What is the leading cause of illness at work?

I always assumed the answer to this question was Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs). As a manual handler trainer, I knew that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports 480,000 cases of workers suffering work-related ill-health from MSDs. Surely that is the biggest issue. 

However, this week the HSE’s statistics show that 914,000 workers were suffering from work-related stress, depression, or anxiety in 2021/22, the cause of 17 million days lost nearly double the number lost due to MSDs. 

Most employers know they have a legal duty to protect staff from physical injuries and accidents like MSDs, but many are still unaware of their legal duty to ensure risks of stress and mental ill health are factored into health and safety risk assessments and acted upon. 

This week marked UK National Stress Awareness Day, and 70 years of the Samaritans for whom I volunteer along with 20,000 other volunteers in the UK, together we have the simple vision that fewer people die by suicide, which can result from poor mental health going untreated. 

Work related stress can come from dealing with difficult customers, and conflicts in the workplace as well as the general stress and strains of working in a busy organisation. 

If your worried about stress in your workplace, or just want to make sure your staff have all the skills needed to cope with stress outside of the workplace, then contact East Saxon Training today and we can help you with our short, fun, and interactive training sessions. (and we still deliver manual handling training as well!)..