Working days lost in Great Britain
Important Note
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the government’s response has impacted recent trends in health and safety statistics published by HSE. It has also affected certain data collections and consequently, no new data on working days lost is available for 2020/21. More details can be found in our report on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
38.8 million
Estimated working days lost due to work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injuries in 2019/20 (LFS)
Working days lost, 2019/20
| Workplace injuries and ill health | Estimated working days lost |
|---|---|
| Work-related ill health | 32.5 |
| Non-fatal workplace injuries | 6.3 |
- Stress, depression or anxiety and musculoskeletal disorders accounted for the majority of days lost due to work-related ill health in 2019/20, 17.9 million and 8.9 million respectively.
- On average, each person suffering took around 17.6 days off work. This varies as follows:
- 9.1 days for Injuries
- 20.0 days for Ill health cases
- 21.6 days for Stress, depression or anxiety
- 18.4 days for Musculoskeletal disorders
Working days lost per worker due to work-related ill health and workplace injuries
working days lost per worker due to work-related ill health and workplace injuries has been broadly flat in recent years, although 2019/20 is above recent rates.
| Year | Days lost per worker | Days lost Lower Bound | Days lost Upper Bound |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000/01 | 1.73 | 1.61 | 1.85 |
| 2002/03 | 0 | 1.56 | 1.80 |
| 2003/04 | 1.62 | 1.50 | 1.74 |
| 2004/05 | 1.49 | 1.38 | 1.61 |
| 2005/06 | 1.28 | 1.18 | 1.39 |
| 2006/07 | 1.49 | 1.37 | 1.62 |
| 2007/08 | 1.39 | 1.28 | 1.51 |
| 2008/09 | 1.22 | 1.11 | 1.33 |
| 2009/10 | 1.19 | 1.08 | 1.31 |
| 2010/11 | 1.10 | 0.98 | 1.22 |
| 2011/12 | 1.14 | 1.02 | 1.25 |
| 2012/13 | 0 | 1.02 | 1.26 |
| 2013/14 | 1.14 | 1.03 | 1.26 |
| 2014/15 | 1.09 | 0.98 | 1.20 |
| 2015/16 | 1.19 | 1.07 | 1.31 |
| 2016/17 | 1.21 | 1.08 | 1.33 |
| 2017/18 | 1.17 | 1.04 | 1.30 |
| 2018/19 | 1.06 | 0.94 | 1.18 |
| 2019/20 | 1.45 | 1.27 | 1.63 |
Trend statements
Working days lost per worker due to self-reported work-related illness or injury has been broadly flat in recent years, although 2019/20 is above recent rates
Notes
- 2000-02 refers to 2000/01 injury data and 2001/02 illness data combined
More information on working days lost
- Data source: Labour Force Survey (LFS) (estimates of working days lost due to self–reported work-related ill health and workplace injuries)
- No new data on working days lost is available for 2020/21. Previously published data on working days lost relating to earlier periods can be found in archived tables
- The detailed data included in the charts can be found in the following archived tables:
- LFSILLTYP - working days lost due to self-reported work-related ill health
- LFSINJSUM - working days lost due to self-reported workplace injuries
- LFSWDL - working days lost due to self-reported work-related ill health and workplace injuries
- Further working days lost archived tables