Out of an estimated 1.8 million cases of work-related ill health in 2021/22, more than 900,000 were due to work related stress, depression and anxiety – making poor mental the number one reason for work-related illness in the UK. Employers must take note and do more to address the situation, amid increasing potential for enforcement action.
The latest figures concerning work related stress, depression and anxiety show an 11.2% increase on the previous year, affecting 2,750 people per 100,000 workers in the UK. Estimates indicate that approximately 17m working days have been lost due to work-related mental health issues; an average of 18.6 days lost per case. At the same time, the number of new cases of work-related ill stress, depression and anxiety fell by 17.5% on the previous year, from 451.000 in 2020/21 to 372,000. However, rates had been increasing in the years prior to the pandemic, demonstrating the long-term systemic nature of the issue.
According to the HSE, the industries with higher-than-average rates of work-related stress, depression or anxiety were public administration and defence, human health/social work and education. Each of these industries had an incidence rate of more than 2,500 cases per 100,000 workers against a national average incident rate of 2,000. The new data also shows that there were 123 fatal injuries at work in 2021/22, an increase on the preceding year of almost 11%. Despite the increase, the UK continues to have one of the lowest incident rates of work-related fatalities in Europe, however, the HSE will take note of this in their enforcement activities.
An additional 565,000 workers suffered a non-fatal injury at work in 2021/22. Construction, agriculture, forestry and fishing, manufacturing and transportation and storage continue to account for the bulk of fatalities. Falls from a height, being struck by a moving vehicle and being struck by a moving, including flying or falling, object continue as the three main causes of fatal injury, between them accounting for over half of all fatal injuries each year since at least 2001/02.
