Occupational Ill-health

Health, Safety and Environment Committee

Subject: Occupational Ill-health

Origin: Health, Safety and Environment Office

The figures below show the number of individuals seen in the Occupational Health department suffering from a condition apparently caused, triggered or significantly aggravated by their work.

Often there are multiple elements in causation – a case has been included if it appears that without work, the problem would not have occurred, even if there are non work factors which were also contributory. Clearly this is an inexact science.

The figure are not limited to those where there is a diagnosed condition (e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome, depression), it includes those who have troublesome symptoms (e.g. muscle soreness, sleep disturbance etc). An attempt has been made to categorise data by severity, based on the need for medical treatment and time absent from work. However this is greatly influenced by individual factors such as personal tolerance, job requirements and motivation, so again is indicative rather than definitive.

Nature of condition	2005	2006
Back problem	6 (I – 4) (II – 0) (III – 1) (IV – 1)	4 (I – 1) (II – 2) (III – 1)
Upper limb problem (“RSI”)	25 (I – 13) (II – 10) (III – 2)	12 (I – 2) (II – 9) (III – 2)
Psychological problem	13 (I – 2) (II - 1) (III – 7) (IV – 3)	28 (I – 5) (II -11) (III – 8) (IV – 4)
Skin problem	1 (III – 1)	0
Respiratory problems	0	(2 – unconfirmed)

Severity Key

I No absence/small effect on work effectiveness, resolution with work modification

II Absence up to one month; marked effect on work effectiveness, or requirement for treatment (physiotherapy, medication)

III Absence 1 – 6 months and /or significant impact on health

IV Absence greater than 6 months and/or need to make permanent job change due to health effect

Author - Wendy Jones

Date - February 2007