Musculoskeletal disorders

Working days lost

In 2008/09, an estimated 9.3 million working days were lost through work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Around three-quarters of these were accounted for by conditions mainly affecting the back and upper limbs or neck, with 3.5 million days and 3.8 million days respectively. The remaining 2 million days was attributed to disorders of the lower limbs (Table SWIT1).

On average, each person suffering from a work-related musculoskeletal disorder took an estimated 17.2 days off in 2008/09. This equates to an annual loss of 0.39 days per worker. Whilst this rate has fluctuated in recent years it is statistically significantly lower than in 2001/02, 2003/04 and 2004/05 (Table SWIT1SIG).