The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) released its workplace health and safety statistics for Great Britain, covering the 2024/ 25 period.

The figures paint a somewhat bleak picture (I am sure that I have said something similar in each of the last few years I have looked at these statistics).

The Highline Figures

HSE’s key figures for 2024/ 25 highlight the cost on individuals and the wider economy:

• 1.9 million working people are suffering from a work-related illness.
• Of these, 964,000 report work-related stress, depression or anxiety (52%).
• 511,000 report a work-related musculoskeletal disorder (MSD).
• 680,000 workers sustained an injury at work, according to the Labour Force Survey.
• 59,219 injuries to employees were reported under RIDDOR.
• 124 workers were killed in work-related accidents.
• 2,218 people died from mesothelioma in 2023, reflecting historic asbestos exposure.  The slow downward trend in such cases continues.
• 40.1 million working days were lost because of work-related ill health and workplace injuries.

The estimated cost of injuries and ill health is a weighty £22.9 billion (2023/ 24), in addition to the obvious personal cost to individuals and their families.

Stress and Musculoskeletal Disorders - the key areas of concern

The statistics confirm that mental health and musculoskeletal conditions are the key conditions affecting the workplace.

52% of all new and long-standing cases of work-related ill health are due to stress, depression or anxiety.

27% are due to musculoskeletal disorders.

So, the remaining 21% encompasses all other types of illness.

However, the long-term trends for the two main conditions are going in opposite directions.

Stress, depression and anxiety show a long-term trend of increasing year on year, whereas musculoskeletal disorders show a long-term (if gradual) reduction.

Workload pressures, tight deadlines, too much responsibility and lack of support are all factors which are said to contribute to stress and mental ill health at work.

For MSDs, factors such as manual handling, working in awkward or tiring positions, and keyboard or repetitive work are said to be key factors.

HSE emphasises that these conditions are largely preventable with the right risk management.

Injuries:

Workplaces continue to generate a significant number of non-fatal injuries:

• 680,000 workers sustained a non-fatal injury at work (self-reported via the Labour Force Survey).

• 59,219 injuries were formally reported under RIDDOR.

The disparity in these two figures is interesting.

These injuries include slips and trips, falls from height, being struck by moving objects, manual handling incidents, and violence at work.

124 Fatal Injuries

Although Britain’s workplaces still remain comparatively safe by international standards, death at work has by no means been eliminated with 124 workers were killed in work-related accidents in the latest year.

Sectors such as construction, agriculture and transportation continue to feature prominently in fatal injury statistics, with the main reasons being from falls from height, contact with moving vehicles, being trapped by something collapsing/ overturning and being struck by moving or falling objects.