July 23, 2003—A major new report giving detailed information on the extent of work-related ill-health in the UK was published recently by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The report, Self-reported Work-related Illness in 2001/02—Results of a Household Survey ,(PDF file), confirms patterns that have emerged over previous surveys. Results are based on 5,015 people living in Great Britain in 2001/02 who reported a work-related illness caused or made worse by current or past work.
The survey indicated that the estimated prevalence of pre-existing as well as new cases of self-reported work-related illness in the UK in 2001/02 was 2.3 million, or 5.3% of the population who have ever been employed. An estimated 29% of this total, 0.7 million people ever employed, were incident (new) cases. Among people employed in the last 12 months this equates to an incidence rate of 2.2%.
The estimated number of working days lost due to work-related illness during the 12-month period was 33 million. On average, each person suffering took an estimated 23 days off work in that 12-month period. Averaged across the working population this represents an annual loss of 1.4 days per worker.
The report includes detailed information, such as:
- Males carried a higher prevalence rate (for people who have ever worked) of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) (3.0%) than females (2.2%), but the corresponding rates of stress, depression, or anxiety were both the same (1.3%).
- Prevalence rates were higher among on-site employees (1.4%) than among the self-employed (0.8%) for stress, depression, or anxiety. The opposite was true for MSDs (1.9% of on-site employees and 3.0% of self-employed).
- Full-time workers (2.2%) carried higher prevalence rates than part-time workers (1.6%) for work-related MSDs, as well as for stress, depression, or anxiety (1.5% of full-time and 0.8% of part-time).
- Occupations with above-average work-related illness prevalence rates included protective service occupations (e.g. police, fire service, prison service, and armed forces) and health and social welfare associate professionals, skilled construction, and building trades (8.6%), and teaching and research professionals (7%).
- Industries with above-average self-reported work-related prevalence rates of 5% or more included: agriculture, hunting, forestry, and fishing; public administration and defense; construction; education; health and social work; and transport, storage, and communication.
- Two broad groups carried the highest prevalence rates of work-related MSDs, and accounted for 34% of the overall prevalence of MSDs: skilled trade occupations, and process, plant, and machine operatives. Each had estimated prevalence rates of over 3%, with skilled construction and building trades at over 5%.
- Industries with high prevalence rates of MSDs were agriculture, hunting, forestry, and fishing (3.8%), construction (3.6%), health and social work (2.8%), and manufacturing (2.3%).
- Two occupations carried the highest prevalence rates of stress, depression, or anxiety: teaching and research professionals (3.7%) and protective service occupations (2.1%—4.9%). They were followed by health and social welfare associate professionals and business and public service associate professionals (2%), and corporate managers and administrative occupations (1.7%). These occupational groups together accounted for around half the prevalent cases of self-reported work-related stress, depression, or anxiety.
