As a country we are used to relatively high level of Health and Safety regulation.  We are not used to seeing many people being badly injured in workplace accidents any more, this is the "safety" side of H&S. On the other side of the coin these figures shown below show that safety performance is just the tip of the iceberg. Work related health issues are tolerated by employees and ignored by many employers who both do not understand and some who do not care about the long term health issues, they are responsible for in their employees. Health issues related work issues are simply not taken seriously by both employees and employers alike.

The HSE have published the latest statistics for Health and Safety Performance:

• 1.2 million working people suffering from a work-related illness
• 2,538 mesothelioma deaths due to past asbestos exposures (2013)
• 142 workers killed at work
• 76,000 other injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR
• 611,000 injuries occurred at work according to the Labour Force Survey
• 27.3 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury
• £14.3 billion estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions (2013/14)
• 13,000 deaths due to all work related diseases, including Asbestos Exposures.
• 600 deaths a year from breast cancer are attributed to long term shift working.

• In 2014/15 an estimated 2.0 million people were suffering from an illness (long standing as well as new cases) they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work.  
• 1.2 million worked in the last 12 months, and a further 0.8 million were former workers. 
• 0.5 million were new cases amongst those working in the last  12 months. 
• Around 80 per cent of new work-related conditions were either musculoskeletal disorders or stress, depression or anxiety. 

• For non-fatal injuries reported by employers under RIDDOR, analysis of the trend in the rate is complicated by changes in the reporting regulations over recent years. Allowing for these changes, there may be signs the downward trend over the past  10 years is slowing down.
• There were 76,054 non-fatal injuries to employees reported in 2014/15 (provisional). Of these injuries, the most common kinds of accident were caused by slips and trips (28%), handling, lifting or carrying (23%), and being struck by moving objects (10%).
• Non-fatal injury notifications from employers are substantially underreported, with current levels of reporting estimated at below half.