Legal spotlight - February 2025

BOTH THE UK government and the UK’s workplace health and safety regulator have repeatedly confirmed their commitment to drive improvements in workplace mental health. Employers must play their part in this and take steps to prevent work-related stress, depression and anxiety, or face the growing threat of enforcement action.

The latest workplace health and safety statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that 1.7 million workers were suffering from work-related ill health in 2023-24. Around 46%, or 0.8 million, of these workers suffered from work-related stress, depression or anxiety. The rate is higher than the 2018-19 pre-coronavirus level. 

Shortly before publication of its latest statistics the HSE issued an eBulletin reminding employers of the legal duty to prevent work-related stress and support good mental health at work. It highlighted that risk assessments must consider workplace stress, depression and anxiety, commenting that “many people still don’t realise that”.

Improving workplace mental health as well as safety is a key priority for the HSE and the regulator has committed to use its “collective resource to focus on this problem” and “deliver interventions that make a real difference”.

As ever, risk assessment is key. As the HSE has said, “prevention is better than cure, and understanding the risks is the first step to preventing them”. This should include psychosocial risk factors which can adversely affect mental health outcomes. For example, in the construction industry, identified psychosocial risks include the often high risk nature of construction work, the prevalence of temporary workplaces and exposure to extreme weather conditions. In addition, the high physical and psychological demands associated with many construction industry tasks, workload and time pressures, lack of job autonomy and control, lack of supervision, support and recognition and lack of participatory decision-making may also contribute to mental ill health amongst construction workers. 

Workplace culture may also be a contributor to increased risk, for example where mental health is downplayed or issues stigmatised. 

But risk assessment is not the end of things; steps must then be taken to eradicate or at least mitigate identified risks. 

Many companies are already taking steps to address and improve their workers’ mental health. They are aware of the issues and the need to drive improvements, harnessing the good and mitigating the risks of the bad. These businesses understand that the success of their business depends on a reliable, skilled workforce, able to perform the tasks expected of them properly. The steps companies can take include reviewing workplace practices to reduce as far as possible risk factors, taking account of any known vulnerabilities, encouraging discussions on worker mental health through mental health and intervention training, ensuring accessibility of occupational health services and mental health first aiders, and provision of toolkits supporting workers to identify and address psychosocial risks.

However, more needs to be done. Improving worker mental health is not only a regulatory priority but is also increasingly a political priority too. In its recent Get Britain Working White Paper, the government stated that “®reversing the increase in economic inactivity caused by ill health is a national priority”. Mental health conditions are amongst the most prevalent conditions in people who are economically inactive. 

Help is at hand for employers. The Working Minds Campaign contains some invaluable guidance. Charity, Mates in Mind also has sector specific advice designed to empower both employers and workers to understand and address mental health issues better. Initially, aimed at the construction sector, Mates in Mind now offers advice and guidance for a range of industries. All of this adds to a growing body of guidelines in this area, including International Standard ISO45003, which sets out internationally agreed guidelines and practical guidance for managing psychosocial risk within an occupational health and safety management system, to prevent work-related injury and ill health and promote wellbeing at work, and World Health Organisation guidelines.

All workers should go home healthy. As the HSE has said in the past, by shining a light on issues such as stress, depression and anxiety, we can help to drive improvements.

Kevin Bridges is a partner and head of health and safety at Pinsent Masons. For more information, visit www.pinsentmasons.com