E063:06 17 May 2006

A fifth of British workers concerned about work-related stress

A report published today by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) shows that just over a fifth of British workers are concerned about work-related stress.

The survey report can be downloaded from: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/publications/whass.htm

Figures derived from the Labour Force Survey in 2004/05 indicate that around 13 million working days were lost due to work-related stress in this year. Stress along with Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) accounted for around 70% of all work-related working days lost in Great Britain.

HSE Chief Executive Geoffrey Podger said, “Stress is a major problem in British workplaces and this survey underlines that. Stress can occur in any workplace and it is important that both employers and employees recognise the symptoms at an early stage. We have produced guidance for employers and the stress management standards can help employers tackle the issue.”

Around 40% thought that the risk of stress in the workplace could be realistically reduced and less than a third said that their employers had taken preventative action to reduce stress levels in the workplace.

The Workplace Health and Safety Survey (WHASS) was conducted between August and December last year surveyed just over 10,000 workers. The survey concerned employee perceptions of workplace risk and covered a number of different risk categories.

The report released today covers the initial findings of the survey. Further analyses will provide more detailed patterns by industry and assessments of preventive measures within the different risk categories.

The data obtained from the survey will give the HSE a better understanding of how health and safety is being managed in Britain’s workplaces and will help to identify what is working and what isn’t and why, from the perspective of the workers.

When employees were also asked which risks they thought could realistically be reduced, slips and trips topped the list. Slips and trips cost employers around £512 million every year.

Other significant findings in the report surrounded health and safety training that employees received. Around 73% of employees received training in manual handling but only half of employees surveyed received training about working around moving vehicles.This is significant as 35 workers were killed last year after being struck by a moving vehicle.

A statistical summary of the report is attached (Annex A): this release presents HSE’s policy response to the figures.

Notes to Editors

All figures contained in the report are survey estimates subject to sampling error. The report tables indicate the likely extent of this error by using 95% confidence intervals

Risk categories included in the report are:

• Work at height
• Skin conditioning resulting from exposure to chemicals
• Respiratory problems from exposure to dust or fumes
• Slips and trips
• Hand-arm vibration
• Driving or working around vehicles
• PC or laptop use
• Whole body vibration
• Lifting or carrying heavy loads
• Exposure to excessive noise
• Stress

The report is based on respondents’ awareness (eg whether exposed to specific hazards), their views (eg attitudes to work-related ill health, health and safety climate in the workplace) and their recall of events (eg sickness absence)

Press enquiries

Ray Allger 020 7717 6179

Out of hours 020 7928 8382

Public enquiries

HSE's InfoLine 0845 3450055

Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG

HSE information and news releases can be accessed on the Internet www.hse.gov.uk/

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Annex A

Workplace Health and Safety Survey Statistical Summary

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have today published a new report, ‘Workplace Health and Safety Survey Programme: 2005 Worker survey first findings report’, www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/whassw1.pdf,[452kb] which provides headline results, from a worker’s perspective, on the management of health and safety in Britain’s workplaces. The report focuses particularly on numbers exposed to different workplace hazards and workers’ concerns, training levels and view of trends in risk.

The survey was administered by telephone, with households selected by random digit dialling. Within households with more than one eligible respondent, just one member was selected for interview, using a computerised method of random selection. A total of 10016 interviews were achieved, a response rate of 26%.

This first findings report lays most emphasis on measures that are less likely to be vulnerable to response bias. This is because the relatively low survey response rate (26%) brings the potential for non-response bias. The impact of this cannot yet be accurately quantified, but is likely to mean that the prevalence of hazards is over-estimated by the survey (since people exposed to them will be more motivated to respond than the unexposed). However the ranking between hazards, and the views among those exposed as to whether the risks are increasing or decreasing, will be less subject to any such bias.

The main focus of the survey was on the presence of risks in the workplace and on measures to control those risks. Questions were also asked about the occurrence of work accidents and work-related illnesses. These were more frequently reported than in the LFS (HSE’s principle source for accident and illness rates), indicating that people with work injuries or work-related illness were more motivated to respond to the WHASS survey. Comparison with other sources suggests that the reporting of risks was not significantly biased, but further analysis of this question will be made.

The potential impact of non-response on the present results means that these findings do not themselves constitute established National Statistics. They contribute to a programme whose aim is the development of National Statistics in this area.

Some of the key findings from the survey included the following:

• The most widespread hazard is stress, with around a fifth of the workforce expressing concern that stress could cause them harm.
• The next most prevalent hazards causing concern were lifting or carrying heavy loads, slipping or tripping and dust or fume exposure, each representing around an estimated 9% of the working population.
• Over half the workforce has no, or slight, health and safety concerns.
• Respondents were asked whether various categories of health and safety risk had increased, reduced or stayed the same over the past year, and in most cases they believed the risks had stayed the same. Perceived reductions in risk were generally more common than increases and this was particularly marked for the risk of falling from height, where reduced risk responses outnumbered increased risk responses by around 20 percentage points.
• A clear balance in favour of reduced risk was also seen for dust and fume exposure, skin contact with chemicals and slipping or tripping. The only risk category showing a clear balance in favour of increased risk was stress (by around four percentage points).

The report also summarises top-level findings on health and safety representation, occupational health provision and self-reported work-related injury and illness rates.

Notes To Editors

1. The Workplace Health and Safety Survey (WHASS) programme has been designed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to provide a direct source of information on workplace hazards and the control of risks from these hazards. Whereas injuries and ill health are relatively uncommon and are therefore difficult to measure by survey with sufficient precision, other facets of the relationship between work and health affect all workers. Measuring precursors of adverse health and safety will generally provide more information to analyse and break down by factors such as industry sector and workplace size. Further, the WHASS programme of surveys will obtain useful information about the perceptions of employers and workers of how well health and safety is managed and risk is controlled within their own working environment.
2. As originally conceived, the centrepiece of the programme would be a linked inquiry of a sample of workplaces with questions directed to management and (separately) to workers at those workplaces. Developing and testing the design of such an inquiry took longer than expected, and it was decided to proceed with separate employer and worker surveys in 2005 (in parallel with large-scale testing of a linked design), in order to generate information relating to the base year for HSE's 2005 to 2008 PSA targets.
3. Full details of the worker survey and questions administered, undertaken on behalf of HSE by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB), can be found in the accompanying survey technical report www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/whasswtech.pdf [265kb] , and questionnaire www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/whasswquest.pdf [730kb] .
4. First findings from the employer survey, that questioned health and safety managers, were published in November 2005: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/whasse1.pdf [2.6Mb]