Musculoskeletal disorders are responsible for more than half (53%) of all work-related ill health cases in construction.
That’s according to new figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which puts the total economic cost of work-related ill health and injuries in the sector at £1.4bn (in 2019/20).
The HSE found that there were 78,000 work-related ill health cases (both new and long-standing), based on an estimated annual average running from 2019/20-2021/22.
Of those, an estimated 42,000 were work-related cases of musculoskeletal disorder – more than half the overall total.
The HSE said it was because of these figures that it recently launched a six-week campaign of construction site inspections focused on manual handling operations.
Stress, depression or anxiety
Meanwhile, there were an estimated 21,000 work-related cases of stress, depression or anxiety (new or long-standing). These accounted for 27% of all ill health in construction. Once again, the figures were based on an estimated annual average running from 2019/2020-2021/22, taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
Contact dermatitis
Certain occupations within construction showed elevated rates of contact dermatitis. In 2017-2019, these occupations compared to the all-occupation rate (2.73 per 100,000 workers) as follows:
- Plasterers: 8.6 per 100,000
- Bricklayers and masons: 7.6 per 100,000
- Carpenters and joiners: 4.1 per 100,000
Source: The Health and Occupation Reporting network (THOR), annual average 2017-2019 (provisional).
Occupational cancer
HSE also commissioned research to look at the burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain. The occupational cancer burden research indicates:
- Across all industries, past occupational exposure to known and probable carcinogens is estimated to account for about 5% of cancer deaths and 4% of cancer registrations currently occurring each year in Great Britain.
- This equates to about 8,000 cancer deaths and 13,500 new cancer registrations each year.
- Of those 8,000 deaths, it is estimated that around 3,500 would be in the construction sector.
Non-fatal injuries
The latest estimates show that in construction there were:
- 59,000 cases of non-fatal work-related injury
- 39% involved over three days and 26% over seven days absence
Source LFS, estimated annual average 2019/20-2021/22
