Official report gives lie to sickie culture

摘要

The number of days lost due to sickness and injury absences in the UK was 27% lower in 2013 than in 1993, according to a new report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS found the absence toll fell over the 20-year period from 178 million days to 131 million days. The percentage of working hours lost to sickness fell over the same period from 2.7% to 1.6% for men, and from 3.8% to 2.6% for women. The main causes of absence were: musculoskeletal pain (MSDs, 31 million days); minor illnesses such as coughs and colds (27 million days); and stress, anxiety and depression (15 million). The figures were published just days before the HSE confirmed its ill-heath strategy would concentrate on the most serious ill-health conditions (work-related cancers and respiratory diseases, see p.1) with an implicit move away from the work-related conditions that lose the greatest number of days (MSDs and stress).