Why the Toolkit?

Around 1.2 million people suffer from a work-related illness in Great Britain and approximately 29 million working days are lost because of ill health caused by work.

• Musculoskeletal disorders are the most common occupational illness - they affect over five hundred thousand people a year.
• Each year, approximately 39,000 individuals suffer from breathing or lung related problems which are thought to be work-related.
• Approximately 16,000 people suffer from work related skin problems each year.
• Work-related stress accounts for over a third of all new ill health cases.

So, how can we change this? There are fewer than 7,000 specialist occupational health doctors and nurses in the UK, and they need support from their health and safety practitioner colleagues.

Equipped with the right tools and working in partnership with others - doctors, nurses and HR professionals - health and safety practitioners can prevent ill health, recommend early intervention and help people return to work.

Our Occupational Health Toolkit provides a 'one-stop shop' for health and safety professionals. There are already plenty of good resources available, but the problem is finding them. Now they're all in one place and cover the spectrum from prevention to rehabilitation. The Toolkit also offers supplementary resources, including presentations, to use in tackling health problems at work.