HSENI | Workplace Health stats
Work-related Ill Health 2020-21
The graphic below estimates the number of workers in NI suffering from work-related ill health (new or long-standing) in 2019-20. The estimates are based on self-reports from the Labour Force Survey Jan - March 2016 - 2021
Estimated Annual Deaths due to Work-related diseases
The figure below estimates the annual number of deaths in NI attributable to work-related causes of illness. Most figures have been calculated using a pro-rata approach except for those figures relating to Mesothelioma and Asbestosis which are derived from Death certificate data provided by HSENI for 2019/20.
The approach taken to calculate the Northern Ireland figures, where there was no actual data available was to use a population pro-rata[1] of the 2021 occupational cancer statistics in Great Britain, which themselves use 2005 GB estimates along with newly available national cancer statistics (annual average deaths during 2016-2020 and cancer registrations during 2013-2017)[2]. Estimates have been rounded up to the nearest 5 in every case.
[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/annualmidyearpopulationestimates/mid2018/relateddata
[2] https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/cancer.pdf
Cost of workplace injuries 2018 - 2019
The HSENI provided Analytical Services with information on the number of fatal injuries, major injuries as well as reported over 3-day injuries. Sample numbers from the NI Labour Force Survey (LFS) were deemed too small to provide a robust estimate of the incidence of minor injuries, reportable injuries and work-related ill-health. Therefore, Analytical Services applied the annual average 2018-19 rate of incidence per 10,000 employees established in the GB report to the total number of employees within Northern Ireland. This makes the assumption that employees in NI are no more or less likely to suffer work-related minor injuries and ill-health than elsewhere in the UK.
The estimated cost of workplace injuries for 2018 – 2019 stands at £427 million from which 62% has been attributed to work related ill health.
Again, as per previous methodology note, Analytical Services concluded that it would continue to be appropriate to base the NI estimates on the GB cost and wage data[1]. This is due to the fact that both NI and GB continue to experience many of the same cost profiles and that the GB report did not model for any regional variation in wages.
Using the available HSENI data for fatal injuries (which has been compiled using a three year average as per the GB methodology), and supplementing it with the derived data for minor injuries, reportable injuries and work-related ill-health and applying GB cost and wage data to all four categories produces the estimated costs to Northern Ireland for 2018-19 as outlined in Figure 2.
[1] http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/cost-to-britain.pdf
