Work-related ill health causing huge problems for UK businesses

It is widely recognised that people are one of the prime resources that organisations have, but little attention is given to ongoing human resource protection in many business continuity plans.

A new report by the UK Health and Safety Executive has highlighted the economic cost of one area of human resource continuity, that of work-related illness:

In 2003/04, 29.8 million working days were lost to work-related illness, with an estimated 2.2 million people in Great Britain believing that they suffered from an illness that was caused or made worse by their current or past work. On average, each person who was suffering took an estimated 22 days off work during that 12-month period – approximately one whole month out of the working year. In most cases this absence will have had a direct impact on organisational productivity and efficiency. In the case of mission-critical workers such an extended absence could be the cause of major business continuity problems.

Musculoskeletal disorders followed by stress, depression or anxiety were by far the most commonly reported types of work related illness with corresponding estimates of 1.1 million and 0.6 million people reporting a current or past illness. Although the estimated annual working days lost were similar for the two conditions, the average annual days lost per case was higher for stress, depression or anxiety (28 days) than for musculoskeletal disorders (19 days).

The rate of new cases of work-related illness in 2003/04 has decreased from 2001/02. Much of this is due to a fall in musculoskeletal disorders, particularly those affecting the back. An estimated 11.8 million working days were lost due to musculoskeletal disorders with 4.9 million days lost through cases affecting the back and 4.7 million days lost through musculoskeletal disorders affecting the upper limbs or neck caused or made worse by work. On average, each person suffering from a condition affecting the back took an estimated 19 days off work, an annual loss of 0.21 days per worker, which is similar to the corresponding rate of 0.24 days per worker in 2001/02.

The report, Self-reported work-related illness in 2003/04: Results from the Labour Force Survey can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/swi0304.pdf

•Date: 27th May 2005 • Region: UK • Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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