HSE Releases Statistics on Annual Injury & Ill-Health – Your Mental Health Matters!
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published statistics that show work-related ill health in the 2020/21 period.
1.7 million workers suffered work-related illnesses in the period of 2020-2021. Around half of the 1.7 million workers suffered from stress, depression or anxiety.
This has highlighted now more than ever how important it is to look at your mental health. The newsletter below will give you the key figures published by the HSE, taking care of your mental health, tips to improve your mental health, seeking help & who you can turn to. We also touch on Time to Talk awareness day.
The information from this article has been taken from the ‘HSE’ website and the ‘Time to Talk’ website.
Key Figures for Great Britain1.7 million working people suffering from a work-related illness, of which:
- 822,000 workers suffering work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
- 470,000 workers suffering from a work-related musculoskeletal disorder.
- 93,000 workers suffering from COVID-19 which they believe may have been from exposure to coronavirus at work.
- 2,369 mesothelioma deaths due to past asbestos exposures (2019).
- 142 workers killed at work.
- 441,000 working people sustained an injury at work according to the Labour Force Survey.
- 51,211 injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR.
The HSE has also delivered two new estimates that have been developed to measure the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which are as follows:
- 93,000 workers self-reported catching COVID-19 at work; 52,000 of these worked in the human health and social work sector.
- 645,000 workers reported that their work-related illness was caused or made worse by the coronavirus pandemic; 70 percent of these were cases of stress, depression or anxiety.
Taking Care of Your Mental Health
Everyone should take care of their mental health and wellbeing, whether they have mental health conditions or not.
Mental wellbeing describes how you are feeling and how well you can cope with everyday life. Your mental wellbeing can change from moment to moment, and you can instantly feel different.
Tips for Improving Your Mental WellbeingThere are many things we can try and do to take care of our well-being. There are a few things you can do to make a start in making a positive change. When trying out new things it is good to try and do what feels comfortable. Give yourself time to figure out what works for you, go at your own pace, take small steps, and pick one or two things that feel achievable at first, before moving on to try other ideas.
Ways to Help Improve Your Mental Wellbeing Could Be:
- Relax and reduce stress
- Find ways to learn and be creative
- Spend time with nature
- Connect with others
- Look after your physical health
- Try to get enough sleep
Seeking Help
Seeking help is often the first step towards getting and staying well, but it can be hard to know how to start or where to turn to. It is common to feel unsure and to wonder whether you should try to handle things on your own or seek help. It is always ok to seek help even if you are not sure you are experiencing a specific mental health problem.
You may want to seek help if you are:
- Worrying more than usual.
- Finding it hard to enjoy your life.
- Having thoughts and feelings that are difficult to cope with and which have an impact on your day-to-day life.
- Interested to find more support or treatment.
Who can You Turn to?
There are lots of options for support out there, although you might find some are more suitable for you, or more easily available. There is no wrong order to try things in – different things work for different people at different times.
- Your doctor
- A trained therapist
- Family, friends, carers, and neighbors
- Charity and third sector organisations
- Peer support
- Student Services
- Community support services
- Workplace support
Time to Talk Day 2022
Time to Talk Day is the Nation’s biggest mental health conversation, which took place on 3rd February. It is a day that friends, families, communities, and workplaces come together to talk, listen and change lives.
The day is represented together by Mind, Rethink Mental Illness and Co-op.
The Time to Talk website provides you with a host of ideas about how you can reach out to people. This could be something like hosting a lunch and learn session, sharing information on social media or texting a friend.
Click here, to go directly to the Time to Talk website.
Reaching out to someone shouldn’t just take place on Time to Talk Day, so make a difference, however it’s done, whether that is meeting up, giving someone a call or dropping someone a text message, it is vital to support one another.