HSE Work Related Stress Figures Show It Remains A Major Issue

The HSE once again is emphasising that stress is a major issue in workplaces and is directing health and safety professionals to examine its statistics on the issue, in order to ascertain the magnitude of the problem in the UK.

Some of the key points about stress in the UK:

• In 2008/09, an estimated 415,000 individuals in Britain who worked in the last year believed that they were experiencing work-related stress at a level that was making them ill.
  
• Around 16.7% of all working individuals thought their job was very or extremely stressful.
  
• The annual incidence of work-related mental health problems in Britain in 2008 was approximately 5126 new cases per year. However, the HSE says: “This almost certainly underestimates the true incidence of these conditions in the British workforce.”
• Data from general practitioners indicates that 30.9% of all diagnoses of work-related ill health are cases of mental ill health, with an average length of sickness absence per certified case of 26.8 working days.
• Occupation groups with the highest levels of self-reported work-related stress are teachers, nurses, and housing and welfare officers, customer service workers, and certain professional and managerial groups.
• People working within public administration and defence also have high prevalence rates of self-reported work-related stress.
• Other groups with high incidence rates of work-related mental illness include medical practitioners and those in public sector security-based occupations such as police officers, prison officers, and UK armed forces personnel.

The HSE is urging health and safety professionals to manage and prevent work-related stress.

Further information on stress at work can be accessed via the E-Library Database and by visting the HSE's dedicated website pages on work related stress

Source: HSE

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