Work-related illness levels on the rise

The number of people who suffer from an illness or disease caused by the workplace is increasing, according to reports from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). From their latest set of figures, the workplace is making more than a million employees ill.

It is estimated that work-related illness and injury caused the loss of 28.2 million working days and cost £14.2 billion in 2012. The figures include conditions such as stress, anxiety, depression, musculo-skeletal disorders and asbestos related illness. Asbestos is one of the biggest killers from the workplace, with an average 20 tradespeople per week dying from asbestos related diseases, according to the HSE.

The British Safety Council (BSC) is growing concerned over the rise in new cases of occupational ill health.

Chief Executive of the British Safety Council, Alex Botha said: “While we welcome the continuing improvement taking place in preventing injuries in our workplaces we are concerned that the 2013/14 report shows no improvement in reducing work related ill health occurrences.“

Furthermore, the BSC have said that the theme of the Council’s annual conference for this year had been how to prioritise health at work and tackle conditions, such as asthma, mental health and cancer. Over half a million new cases of work-related illness have been reported in 2013/14.

At Williamsons Solicitors we have a specialist Industrial Disease team with more than 20 years combined experience in the field, bringing successful claims for clients who have suffered a workplace illness or disease. We provide professional help covering a range of fields such as asbestos related diseases, respiratory disease, repetitive strain injury, occupational lung disease, mesothelioma compensation, noise-induced hearing loss, hand-arm vibration syndrome, work-related dermatitis and work-related upper limb disorder.