C017:06 03 August 2006
The latest detailed analysis of information on work-related ill health has been published today by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Self-reported work-related illness in 2004/05: Results from the Labour Force Survey , generally confirms patterns which have emerged from previous Self-reported Work-related Illness (SWI) surveys in 1990, 1995, 1998/99, 2001/02 and 2003/04. The main headline figures from this survey were published in November 2005, and full results are now presented in this report.
Trends since 2001/02 (previously released)
Main findings for 2004/05 (previously released)
The headline figures previously released indicated that the estimated prevalenceof self-reported work-related illness in 2004/05 was 2.0 million, equating to 4.7% of people ever employed. An estimated 29% of this total, 0.6 million people ever employed were incident cases. Among people employed in the last 12 months, this equates to an estimated incidence rate of 1.8%.
The estimated number of working days lostdue to work-related illness during the 12 month period was 28.4 million. On average, each person suffering took an estimated 23 days off work in that 12 month period. Averaged across the working population this represents an annual loss of 1.2 daysper worker.
Musculoskeletal disorders followed by stress, depression or anxiety were by far the most commonly reported type of work-related illnesses with corresponding prevalence estimates of 1.0 million and 0.5 million for people ever employed. The ranking was reversed for incidentcases, with an estimate of 206 thousand for musculoskeletal disorders and 245 thousand for stress, depression or anxiety. Furthermore, although the estimated annual working days lost were of a similar order for the two conditions, the average annual days lost per case was higher for stress, depression or anxiety (31 days) than for musculoskeletal disorders (20 days).
The prevalence of an illness is the number of individuals suffering from it at a given point in time (or period of time). In the SWI surveys, the prevalence is the count of people who have suffered from the reported illness in the 12 months prior to their interview. Prevalent cases may be long-standing, and have made their first appearance years ago. The incidence of an illness counts the number of new appearances of illness in a given period. In the SWI surveys, incidence is the number of cases where the affected person reported that they were "first aware" of the condition within the 12 months preceding their interview. Prevalence can be thought of as a "stock" of illness, incidence as a "flow" of new cases. Incidence rates are calculated on the population working in the last 12 months. Unless otherwise stated, prevalence rates are also calculated on the basis of the population working in the last 12 months, but for overall totals the rate is calculated using the population ever employed (and this will be explicitly stated in the text).
First-release data
This report provides a wealth of detailed information relating to 2004/05 for example:
The report, Self-reported work-related illness in 2004/05: Results from the Labour Force Survey, can be accessed at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/swi/swi0405.pdf
The main headline figures from the report were published in Health and Safety Statistics 2004/05 at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overall/hssh0405.pdf in November 2005.
1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) commissioned a module of questions in the winter 2004/05 Labour Force Survey (LFS), to gain a view of work-related illness based on individuals' perceptions. The LFS is a household survey, and is intended to be representative of the UK population. This is the sixth survey of self-reported work-related illness undertaken in conjunction with the UK LFS. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) commissioned a survey in 1990 covering England and Wales, and one in 1995 covering Great Britain. The European Union Statistical Office (EUROSTAT) commissioned the third in 1998/99. This included most member states, but the UK coverage was restricted to people working in the past 12 months rather than people ever employed (as in the previous two surveys). HSE commissioned further surveys in 2001/02 and 2003/04 covering people ever employed in Great Britain. The surveys are known as SWI90, SWI95, SWI98/99, SWI01/02 and SWI03/04 (surveys of Self-reported Work-related Illness). Results were published in 1993, 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2005.
2. Headline results from the new survey (SWI04/05) which covers people ever employed in Great Britain, were published in Health and Safety Statistics 2004/05, providing estimates of the overall prevalence (including long standing as well as new cases) of self-reported work-related illness in the last 12 months, of incidence (new cases) in the same period and of annual working days lost due to work-related illness. This report focuses on releasing more detailed results by a range of demographic and employment-related variables. Some comparisons of the latest results with those from 2003/04 and 2001/02 (which are the most compatible) are also presented.
3. Results are based on 3,964 people living in Great Britain in 2004/05 who reported a work-related illness caused or made worse by current or past work. These individuals were identified by screening a nationally representative sample of 89,196 people in the Labour Force Survey. Since the results are based on a sample survey, there is a range of uncertainty around all estimates. In the report the uncertainty is expressed in the form of 95% confidence intervals, which mean that each range has a 95% chance of containing the true value (i.e. the value that would have been found if the entire population had been surveyed) in the absence of bias.
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