The latest report by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) has shown the “staggering individual and societal costs” of workplace injuries and ill health. The document notes that:
The combined estimated cost of workplace injuries and ill-health to Northern Ireland is around £607m each year, with work-related ill health alone estimated to cost over £390m annually.
The breakdown of costs estimates 5.3% of the total from fatal injuries, 30.2% from non-fatal injuries and 64.5% from ill health. The two leading causes of death are occupational lung disease and occupational cancer. Asbestos exposure still accounts for a high number of deaths, via the two main diseases it causes – asbestosis and the cancer mesothelioma. All forms of asbestos were banned from Britain and Northern Ireland only in 1999, despite the dangers of the substance starting to emerge 100 years previously.
Asbestos still killing in northern Ireland over a century after its dangers were known
Every asbestosis-related death in Northern Ireland in 2022 was for a person aged 65 or over, with 15 in total perishing from the condition in that year. 47 people died from mesothelioma, while other forms of cancer attributable to occupation accounted for 147 lives lost. These were caused by substances such as silica, likely mainly the dust emitted when workers cut or drill materials like stone, concrete, and sand. Lung and bladder cancer deaths are attributed to diesel exhaust exposure, suffered by workers such as mechanics and those who drive for a living. The report states:
Based on the latest data available, it is estimated that there are around 200 work-related cancer deaths in Northern Ireland every year.
HSE (GB) estimate that 5.3% of all cancer deaths and 4% of cancer registrations (newly diagnosed cases) could be attributed to past exposure at work.
Alongside the figures for deaths is the enormous cost, both personal and economic, of ill health. HSENI say:
It is estimated that there were 640,000 days lost due to other work-related illness in Northern Ireland in 2023-24.
Of these, 320 were from mental ill health, such as stress, depression and anxiety. 260 were from musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and 60 attributable to other pathologies. The figures for MSD cases have actually been rising, with figures for conditions “caused or made worse by work in NI” going from 14,000 in 2022/23 to 18,000 in 2023/24. This will be compounded by the horrifying toll taken on waiting lists by Conservative-led austerity, which has seen waiting lists soar in Northern Ireland from around 100,000 in 2008 to over 500,000 in 2023. Only this week Health Minister Mike Nesbitt further stalled measures to alleviate this crisis by assigning more than £70m due for waiting lists into instead paying off the Department of Health’s £600m deficit.
Mental health harmed by relentless demands of employers
When it comes to mental health, the report says:
Estimates indicate that there were 15,000 people suffered from stress, depression, or anxiety caused or made worse by work in the year 2023-24.
That’s just the cases reported by individuals, of course. Stigma still sadly exists around mental illness, which means there may be many who do not seek help. The civil service has been particularly hard hit, with a report last week showing that such illness accounted for 40% of absences from work. Speaking to the Irish News, Director of Postgraduate Research at Queen’s Business School Juliet Hassard said the “intensity of work” is growing, alongside a demand by employers that their workers “do more with less” amid cuts and restructuring.
Cases of depression have been on the rise, with a 43% increase between 2016 and 2022. Despite the legacy of trauma from The Troubles, Stormont spends only £212 per person on mental health provision, compared to £264 in England.
Spending is of course partially constrained by the amount provided each year by successive parsimonious governments at Westminster, who divvy out money to the devolved nations via the Barnett formula. Like his Tory predecessors, Starmer has been content to let Britain and Northern Ireland wallow in a mire of ill health while, as can never be stated often enough, 50 families hoard wealth equivalent to that possessed by half the population.
Unveiling the report alongside Mid Ulster District Council, Chief Executive of HSENI Robert Kidd said:
These figures tell a stark story about the impact work-related ill health is having on our society, our workforce and our health service. We need to take urgent action now to ensure every workplace is one where the health risks are properly managed.
No one should lose their life or develop ill health simply as a result of the job they do. Yet, it is estimated that over 300 people die each year due to work-related disease and thousands more left living with serious and debilitating health conditions, with an estimated cost of over £390million per year to society. But these aren’t just statistics, they represent real people and real loss.
Only dismantling of capitalism can truly end occupational harm to health
This, of course, is the key point – behind all the figures and references to money lost, the true cost is in the lives blighted – or ended – by ill health. Covid reminded us that the fundamentals of worker exploitation under capitalism haven’t changed, even if more rights may have been won. While employees then were pushed into lawless factories that maimed and killed, modern staff were told to get back into inadequately ventilated workplaces during a deadly pandemic, with many losing their lives as a result. Others had their mental health harmed by intrusive surveillance at home (classic the Guardian headline here, suggesting workers are “shirking“).
While government agencies can write their reports, and ministers can juggle inadequate budgets, the only cure to death and illness at work is the dismantling of an economic system that sees workers as little different to the inanimate tools of the assembly line. Human beings treated little better than a wrench or hammer – deployed, abused then disposed of once overuse renders them unfit for the purposes of production.
Featured image via the Canary
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