Stress, depression and anxiety accounted for half of the work-related ill health cases in 2021/22, according to the latest health and safety statistics from the HSE.
Mental illness accounted for 914,000 new or long-standing ill health cases last year, and was the most common category of work-related sickness, the HSE’s report says, accounting for 51% of cases.
Industries with higher than average rates of work-related stress, depression or anxiety included public administration and defence, human health and social work, and education.
The HSE found the coronavirus pandemic was a major contributory factor to work-related mental ill health. In the years prior to the pandemic, the rate of self-reported stress, depression or anxiety had shown signs of
increasing, but the current rate is higher than the 2018/19 level.
Mental health conditions represented 77% of the illnesses caused or made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic, the report shows.
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Musculoskeletal disorders, the second most common type of work-related illness, represented 27% of ill-health cases. Most of these affected the back (42%) or upper limbs or neck (37%), with only 21% affecting the lower limbs.
In total, 1.8 million workers were suffering from a new or long-standing work-related illness in 2021/22 – 41% of which were new cases.
The HSE estimated that 30.8 million working days were lost to work-related illness or injury, 55% of which were due to stress, depression or anxiety.
Occupational lung disease continued to be the biggest cause of work-related deaths in 2021/22. Some 12,000 lung disease death each year are estimated to be linked to past exposures at work, out of 13,000 total deaths, with 34% due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 20% due to asbestos-related cancer and 20% because of mesothelioma.
The report shows that 123 people died in work-related accidents in 2021/22, including 30 in construction, 22 in agriculture, forestry and fishing, and 22 in manufacturing.
