Workplace Guides

In 2020, in the UK the Labour Force Survey identified:

• An estimated, 828,000 workers affected by work-related stress, depression or anxiety, with 17.9 million working days lost; and that
• Work-related stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 51% of all work-related ill health and 55% of all days lost due to work-related ill-health.

Mould spores can be found everywhere including in our homes and workplaces. While specific environments may need to be clinically clean (for example, hospital operating theatres, vaccine production facilities and some food production plants), it is both unrealistic and unreasonable to expect a normal workplace to be ‘free from’ mould spores.

Pregnancy is a part of everyday life and many women work while pregnant, and many return to work while they are still breastfeeding. New and expectant mothers’ health and safety can be adequately addressed by normal health and safety management. One element of a good safety management system is to perform a risk assessment on new and expectant mothers, to identify any hazards in the workplace that may affect their health and safety.

Hearing loss, caused by exposure to noise in the workplace, continues to be a major occupational disease. According to the HSE, an estimated 17,000 people working during the last year suffered from noise induced hearing loss that was caused or made worse by work. This is based on data from the Labour Force Survey (Estimated using three years of the Labour Force Survey from 2016/17 to 2018/19), equating to a rate of 62 cases per 100,000 people employed in the last 12 months.

Ozone (O₃) is a triatomic molecule which consists of three oxygen atoms (oxygen consists of two atoms), and is a colourless gas. Stratospheric ozone (in the upper atmosphere) is known as the ozone layer and protects our health by shielding us from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. However, at ground level, ozone (tropospheric ozone) is a pollutant with highly toxic effects. It is a hazard to human health, the environment and a wide range of natural and artificial materials.

Pandemic (from the Greek for pan, "all" and demos 'crowd') is the spread of a new infectious disease across large regions of or the whole World, which affects many people. They are distinct from epidemics, for example such as seasonal flu, insofar as these tend to affect people within specific populations or regions at the same time and their spread is not as wide as a pandemic.

Pests can be divided into three basic groups; rodents, insects and birds.  They can enter a building for warmth, shelter or food via deliveries, open doors and windows.  Pests can spread diseases, viruses, bacteria, protozoa and parasites via their fur, feet, droppings, urine and saliva.

Photocopiers and laser printers emit hydrocarbons, ozone, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and dust from paper and toner.