Record UK sickness absence puts emphasis on DSE assessments

Katherine Metcalfe of Pinsent Masons was commenting after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that while overall economic inactivity in the UK labour market is falling, there has been an increase since the Covid-19 pandemic in the number of adults who have exited the labour market due to long-term sickness.

According to new ONS data, there are more than 438,000 adults of working age in the UK who are long-term sick. This is a record high, it said. The latest figures are taken from a survey of the labour market and reflect the position during the first quarter of 2023.

In an interview on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: “Analysis we have done recently shows that the strongest increases in ill-health have been in conditions relating to mental health, particularly in the young, a rise in people having musculoskeletal issues – so problems connected to the back and neck, with some theories of the increase in home working contributing to that – and we have also seen an increase in the category that includes post-viral fatigue, so perhaps long-Covid having an impact there.”

Metcalfe said that if employees work from home on anything more than an ad hoc basis, the employer must conduct a display screen equipment (DSE) assessment which covers home working as well as office working. She said that if this identifies the need for adjustments, or DSE equipment, the employer must supply that at its own cost.

“There is patchy awareness that DSE requirements apply to all workstations regularly used by employees,” said Metcalfe. “It is really important to conduct a detailed DSE assessment and to provide training and information which tells employees what they need to do in the office, at home and on the move. Employers must make sure their employees know who to contact if they are experiencing any problems. This is crucial to demonstrate compliance with health and safety law, and to guard against claims associated back, neck and other injuries.”

Fiona Cameron, also of Pinsent Masons, said figures published late last year by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) highlight the scale of the problem employers must address in respect of the mental health of their workforce and in relation to musculoskeletal issues experienced by workers – the regulator said at the time that there are 914,000 workers suffering work-related stress, depression or anxiety, and 477,000 workers suffering from a work-related musculoskeletal disorder.

“Last year, the HSE launched a campaign to combat serious aches, pains and strains, focusing on the construction industry because that records some of the highest incidences of ill-health arising from musculoskeletal issues,” Cameron said. “However, employers must not forget that their obligation to ensure the health and safety of their workers and others insofar as reasonably practicable extends to all workers and not just those working on site or in an office.” 

Cameron said, though, that workers themselves have health and safety duties of their own.

“Workers cannot simply abdicate responsibility for their health and safety to their employer,” she said. “The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 places an obligation on workers to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and to cooperate with their employer so that they can fulfil their duties.”