NEARLY 200 Dumfries and Galloway Council employees were off work last year due to stress or accidents sustained at their job.
There were 196 instances of these absences overall in 2023/24, involving 185 different employees.
A new report has revealed that 133 people were signed off due to work-related stress, while a further 52 were absent due to an accident at work.
This equated to 5274 work days lost – and a total of 37,445 working hours missed.
However, this is an improvement for the local authority, which has a workforce of around 6500.
A health and safety report, which is due to tabled at the council’s audit, risk, and scrutiny committee next Tuesday, reads: “The numbers show a decrease from previous year and this is the case for both the number of instances, the number of days lost, the number of individual staff absent and the percentage of staff who were absent for work-related accidents and ill health.”
The previous year there were 151 people off with work-related stress, and 57 people off because of accidents in the workplace.
Meanwhile, the council reported 23 incidents last year to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). These are known as RIDDOR cases (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations).
The report states: “This is the same number as the previous year and lower than accidents prior to Covid-19 working.
“The HSE reportable incidence rate for this annual period is 3.42 per 1000 employees (average headcount over period) compared to 3.50 for year ending March 31, 2023.
“It should be noted that overall numbers are low and as such can significantly affect comparative incidence figures.”
The report continued: “Half of the RIDDOR injuries over the year were arising from slips, trips and falls, with the remainder thinly spread across a range of event types including violence, injuries sustained from using equipment, manual handling and a road traffic accident.”
Reportable injuries occurred within education; waste collection; catering and facilities management; roads; art and museums; and community assets.
