The workplace has a significant impact on workers’ health and wellbeing. From a missed trip hazard to excessive workload demands, poorly managed workplace health and safety is likely to lead to work-related injury, ill health and, in turn, high levels of sickness absence. 

In fact, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that in 2019/20, 38.8 million working days were lost due to non-fatal workplace injuries and work-related ill health.

Absence is a key business issue, not least because of the huge costs involved. Work days lost to injury and illness impact on productivity and service delivery, and valuable time and resources are lost in managing the situation. Even where replacement workers are found, the missing knowledge and experience of absent employees can leading to significant business disruption and a loss of morale amongst those workers left to pick up the slack.

HSE statistics reveal that in 2019/20, 693,000 workers were injured in workplace accident and 168,000 of these injuries resulted in absence of over seven says. A further 1.6 million suffered from work-related ill health (new or longstanding), compounding the problem.

Together, this resulted in a staggering 38.8 million working days lost. Aside from the obvious cost of business interruption, employers face added insurance, administrative and legal expenses, as well as sick pay payments. Staff morale and business reputation can also be badly affected. Little wonder then that in 2018/19, the combined cost of workplace injury and ill health to employers was estimated to be £3.2 billion.

Of course, health and safety and absence rates are inextricably linked; taking steps to prevent people being injured or made ill by work helps to keep absenteeism to a minimum. This is why overall health and safety wellness should be a top priority for all organisations and why, as an employer, you should strive to create a safe working environment in which employees don’t just survive but thrive.