(Professor of Education) Rebecca Allen - Your health at work : an indispensable guide to physical and mental wellbeing

Your Health at Work

a TUC guide

An indispensable guide to physical and mental wellbeing

Becky Allen Howard Fidderman

Publishers note

Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author.

First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2019 by Kogan Page Limited

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the copyright, designs and patents act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the cla. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:

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Trades Union Congress (TUC), Becky Allen and Howard Fidderman 2019

The right of the TUC, Becky Allen and Howard Fidderman to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN 978 0 7494 8150 6

E-ISBN 978 0 7494 8151 3

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This book is about your health at work. It is written by experts in the field, and supported by the TUC and its member unions, who fought for many of the health rights that workers enjoy today. Unions achieve change by representing you collectively at work.

Twenty years ago, this book would have focused mainly on specific diseases and disorders that were caused or made worse by your work. It would have looked at musculoskeletal disorders and occupational diseases such as cancer, as well as the then emerging issue of stress. And it would have dealt with a health and safety system in which the main players were the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities (which together inspect and enforce health and safety legislation at your workplaces), trade unions and some large employers and employers organizations. While all these elements remain relevant and important, safeguarding your health at work is today bound up in wider considerations and influences.

Despite the huge changes in the ways that many of us work, and the evidence we have from research about how to reduce the impact of work on health, some 1.3 million people in Britain suffer from illnesses caused or made worse by work (which amounts to 25.7 million workdays lost each year). This toll includes 8,000 deaths a year from occupational cancers itself a conservative estimate and 13,500 new cancer registrations. Aside from the physical and mental suffering endured by workers and their families, work-related illness also has a massive impact on the economy. New cases of work-related illness cost individuals, employers and the government around 9.7 billion in 2016/17, over half of which is borne by individuals.

Most work-related illness is easily preventable. Trade unions have worked tirelessly over many years to make workplaces healthier. We have legislation in the UK the Health and Safety at Work Act from 1974 and dozens of sets of regulations, many of which implement European law designed to prevent you and your colleagues from being made ill by work. And a 2016 guideline from the Sentencing Council has meant that employers are increasingly receiving fines that match their crimes, with the total amount of fines imposed almost trebling in the first full year in which the guideline was in force, even though the number of prosecutions decreased.

Today, your health at work encompasses broader issues and reflects major changes in the UKs population, economy and government and societal priorities. Politically, we live in a deregulatory climate in which health and safety is often depicted as a burden on business until, that is, something goes terribly wrong. And with so much of our health at work legislation emanating from the EU, these protections and rights face an uncertain and possibly precarious future. Crosscutting themes recur throughout the book, as well as being covered in specific chapters on the ageing workforce, migrant workers, young workers and apprentices, new ways of working, disability and mental health issues. Together, all of these factors are having a major impact on your health at work.

The UK population and its workforce is ageing. We explain why this is happening and how it affects your health at work. Successive governments regardless of political persuasion have introduced policies that encourage people to work but, in the bad cases, force people to work or find work when not completely healthy. The emphasis for the state is now on what you can do rather than what you cannot do. Work should be good for you, but you need to ensure that it works for you. The economy is also changing, so we look at the rise of the gig economy and zero-hours contracts and the health risks these present. And we look at how social and political changes are expanding what we mean by health at work.

These changes are arguably most apparent in mental health. Recent years have seen a marked shift in attitudes to mental health in schools, communities and workplaces. Mental illness is the single largest cause of disability in the UK. It affects one in four of us and costs the economy around 100 billion a year roughly the cost of the entire NHS. There are close links between mental and physical health, with conditions that were previously treated separately increasingly approached as a whole for example, musculoskeletal disorders and stress-related conditions. If you have a severe, long-term mental illness, you are likely to die 1020 years earlier than other people, making this a huge source of health inequality.

Mental health is not only about healthcare; it is a workplace issue. Together with musculoskeletal disorders and occupational lung diseases, mental health is one of the HSEs three strategic health priorities. the UK is facing a mental health challenge at work that is much larger than they had thought. Their vision is that in 10 years time: employees in all types of employment will have good work; that all organizations, large and small, will have the tools and awareness to address and prevent mental ill health caused or made worse by work; and that all of us will have the information and confidence to look after our own mental health and the mental health of those around us. And in October 2017, the Prime Minister confirmed that NHS England and the Civil Service two of the countrys largest employers would implement the reports recommendations.