2023 HSE statistics published

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have published their latest statistics for the 2022/2023 reporting period.

The HSE use a series of data sources in order to pull together information on injury and ill-health reporting, including RIDDOR reports and data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) ran by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

They provide figures on the amount of workers who suffered from a work-related illness and disease, injury or fatality, along with the total number of working days lost due to illness and injury in Great Britain. 

Here we'll give you a run through of the main statistics.

Work-related ill-health and disease

It was reported that 1.8 million workers were suffering from work-related ill-health in 2022/23. 672,000 of these were new cases of work-related ill-health, with the rest long-standing cases.

Some key findings are:

49% of cases (875,000) were attributed to stress, depression or anxiety:

• This is a slight decrease on 2021/22 reports where there were 914,000 cases;
• 338,000 of these were new cases reported in the 2022/23 period;
• A total of 17.1 million working days were lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety;

The industries with higher-than-average rates of work-related stress, depression or anxiety were (highest first):

• human health/social work;
• public admin/defence;
• education.

27% of cases (473,000) were due to musculoskeletal disorders:

• This is similar to the 477,000 cases reported in 2021/22;
• 132,000 of these were new cases reported in the 2022/23 period;
• A total of 6.6 million working days were lost due to musculoskeletal disorders.

The industries with higher-than-average rates of musculoskeletal disorders were (highest first):

• admin and support service activities;
• construction; and
• human health/social work.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders by body area affected were:

• 41% (196,000) upper limbs or neck;
• 41% (195,000) back;
• 17% (82,000) lower limbs.

24% of cases (422,000) were attributed to other illnesses.

Statistics for occupational lung diseases are usually reported a year later than other illness rates. In 2021 there were 2,268 mesothelioma deaths reported with a similar number of lung cancer deaths linked to past exposure to asbestos.

Workplace injury

A total of 3.7 million working days were lost due to workplace injury in 2022/23.

561,000 workers sustained a workplace injury in that period.

78% of these injuries (437,000) were injuries with an up to seven-day workplace absence. 22% of reported injuries (124,000) resulted in over seven days of absence. 

There were 60,645 RIDDOR reportable non-fatal work-related injuries to employees in 2022/23, a decrease from 61,713 reported in the 2021/22 period.

Of the RIDDOR reportable injuries, the most common types of accidents were:

• slips, trips or falls on the same level, 32%;
• handling, lifting or carrying, 17%;
• struck by a moving object, 11%;
• falls from a height, 8%;
• act of violence, 8%.

The industries with the highest rates of self-reported workplace injuries were (highest first):

• agriculture, forestry and fishing;
• construction; and
• accommodation/food services.

Workplace fatalities

In 2022/23 there were 135 workers tragically killed in work-related incidents. This is an increase of 12 from the previous year where 123 workers lost their lives in workplace incidents.

Working days lost and costs

There were a total of 35.2 million working days lost in 2022/23 due to work-related ill health and injury. This is a decrease from the 36.8 million working days lost in 2021/22.

The annual estimated costs for 2021/22 of workplace injury and new cases of work-related ill-health (there is a delay in these figures compared to other reporting data), are:

• £13.1 billion for new cases of work-related ill-health; and
• £7.7 billion for workplace injury.

For more information, see:

• HSE - Summary Statistics for Great Britain 2023.