Workplace injury and illness in England could be linked to an estimated £861.6 million a year in statutory sick pay alone, with illness-related absence accounting for nearly £764 million of that total, according to a new analysis by Protecting.co.uk.
The health and safety software firm revealed that illness-related absence accounted for nearly 90% of estimated statutory sick pay costs, while injury-related absences accounted for £98.1 million.
Women lost 16.6 million days to work-related illness in the space of a year, which is around 500,000 more than men at 16.1 million. Women also lost 500,000 more working days to illness during the same time period than men.
Stress-related illness affected 536,000 women, compared with 350,000 men over the same period. It affects 3,220 female staff per 100,000 workers, compared with 1,980 male staff per 100,000 workers. Stress accounts for 56% of women’s work-related ill health, versus 42% among men.
Overall, women bear a higher burden of work-related illness, particularly stress. This means women are more likely to experience work-related illness overall, particularly stress-related conditions.
The findings also revealed that men are almost 20 times more likely to die at work and lose twice as many days to injury at 2.8 million working days, compared with 1.4 million among women. For every 100,000 female workers, 5,770 report work-related ill health, compared with 4,680 male workers.
Mark Hall, managing director at Protecting.co.uk, said: “When workplace accidents make the news, it’s usually because of serious accidents. While those are obviously critical, when you look at the numbers, the bigger financial impact comes from day-to-day sickness absence.
“As the analysis shows, illness-related sickness could contribute to substantial sickness pay costs. Stress-related conditions, in particular, are leading to sustained time away from work, and that cost builds up quietly over time. For employers, reducing accidents will always be an essential focus. But if the goal is to lower absence and manage costs, more attention also needs to be paid to workload pressures and various other factors that are contributing to longer-term illness.”
