Work-related illness greater in Wales than elsewhere in the UK, says new report

Martin Shipton

More days are lost to work-related ill-health in Wales than in any other part of the UK, according to new research carried out for TUC Cymru.

The trade union body’s report on Work Health and Safety in Wales finds the increasing intensity and insecurity of modern work has led to increases in stress and strain – both physically and mentally.

Absences from work for such reasons now cost an estimated £759m to the economy.

The new report reveals that work-related stress is the number one hazard for workers in Wales, with social care one of the highest risk sectors.

Some 53% of health and safety reps in Wales said stress was the main work hazard, with bullying and harassment the second, according to the 47% of reps reporting this.

In Wales 1.8 million days are lost to work-related ill-health. That’s 1.5 days per worker, compared to 1.1 days per worker across the UK.

Casual jobs

According to the new report, high levels of casual, temporary and low-skilled and poor paid jobs, along with a predominance of micro and small enterprises and agriculture all contribute to Wales’ work health and safety outcomes, as does the country’s legacy of heavy industry.

Shavanah Taj, General Secretary of TUC Cymru said: “Our new research demonstrates that for too many people in Wales, work is the cause of ill-health. Only around one-third of workers in Wales think work affects their mental and physical health positively.

“It is particularly shocking that there are increasing reports of social care workers being exploited by bad employers and treated as modern day slaves.

“That is why TUC Cymru welcomes the UK Government’s decision to launch a new Fair Work Agency under the new employment laws which will be a powerful new force to tackle worker exploitation alongside trade unions.

“What is more, the updated employment law will give new energy and support to trade unions. That is good because our research is clear – workplaces with unions are safer and healthier for workers.

“It is very disappointing that certain political parties have rejected these changes and voted against the Employment Relations Bill. They clearly are content for Welsh workers to face conditions which pose a risk to their health, day in, day out.”

Stress

One worrying theme of the report is that while stress has been identified as the main risk to employees, regulators told TUC Cymru that current guidance makes it difficult to enforce the issue in workplaces.

TUC Cymru says it would like to see this addressed by strategic cooperation between the regulators in Wales and clearer guidance from the Health and Safety Executive on handling stress at work.

One regulator told the researchers: “Enforcement is best when it’s linear, where it’s black and white. Did you do a thing? When you’re asking enforcement bodies to engage in exercises or speculation of psychology or mental fitness then I think that’s a lot harder to achieve than the more linear.’

Another regulator spoke about mental health and its relationship to workplace culture, emphasising the difficulty involved in determining a regulatory breach and the need for regulatory agencies to work together towards ways of better addressing this. The regulator said: “Stress is on our agenda. I’m kind of calling on the HSE to say, well, OK, you work with us in developing something to say well, this is best practice — this is what we considered as a non-compliance, because I don’t think we’ve got a full comprehension of that yet.”

Welsh Government funding

Responding to the report, TUC Cymru’s General Council passed a resolution which called for more Welsh Government funding for local authorities to enforce health and safety in workplaces; and greater co-operation in Wales between regulators, unions and employers to strategically target sectors or areas where the exploitation of workers is a particular problem.

Work Health and Safety in Wales has been written by Professor David Walters of Cardiff University and Eva Makri of Solent University for TUC Cymru.