The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has a legal duty to provide a medical service, making sure our bodies aren’t chockful of deadly substances or otherwise wrecked at work.
But, finds Hazards editor Rory O’Neill, its medical division is nearing extinction, the whole occupational medicine profession could follow suit and the UK’s workplace diseases crisis is continuing unchecked.
This year the European Trade Union Institute published a paper on work-related cancers in the EU. It showed that 102,500 deaths take place each year because of exposure to carcinogens in the workplace, twenty times the number caused by workplace injuries. That is a massive amount.
Asthma is an inflammatory disorder of the airways, characterised by symptoms of coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest.
A worldwide epidemic of occupational cancer is claiming at least one life every 52 seconds, but this tragedy is being ignored by both official regulators and employers. These deaths are not just statistics, they are stories of pain, hardship and bereavement.
The HSE have important information about occupational cancer, official relevant standards, guidance on what to do and official statistics.
HSE define stress as the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demands placed on them. Work-related stress is not just confined to particular sectors but is widespread across all types of workplace - and is on the increase.
According to the TUC website, surveys conducted by trade unions and others have confirmed that spending cuts in the public sector and job insecurity throughout the economy after the banking crisis are causing increasing levels of stress.
The term MSD covers any injury, damage or disorder of the joints or other tissues in the upper/lower limbs or the back.
Upper limb disorders (ULDs) can affect any part of the arm from the fingers to the shoulder or neck, and can involve muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves and blood supply.
Symptoms include pain, aching, tingling, tenderness, burning sensation, numbness, redness or swelling. ULDs also include Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). ULDs are frequently caused or made worse by work.
Common causes of ULDs are:
There are many different types of ill health related to employment. According to recent Health and Safety Executive statistics, the most common types of work-related ill health in the UK are:
