The majority of British people recognise that stress is the most common cause of work-related ill health.
Almost six in ten (59%) of more than 2,000 adults surveyed by YouGov on behalf of Croner rightly identify stress as the work-related ill health issue with the most new cases per year.
Perhaps surprisingly, similar numbers of people believed that cancer (12%) and musculoskeletal disorders (11%) were the most frequently diagnosed health problems that arose in the workplace.
According to Health & Safety Executive (HSE) statistics, more than 350,000 new cases of work-related stress arise each year.
Musculoskeletal disorders generated around 141,000 new cases each year - just over 10 times more than cancer.
"Although rates of work-related illness have generally reduced over the last decade, this is still a major problem in the UK," said Croner safety technical consultant Stephen Thomas.
"Stress is well recognised as a cause of occupational ill health, but the indications are that many employers are still not effectively managing it.
"For most people, including many employers, health and safety still tends to focus on accident prevention. It's health and safety with a small ‘h', so occupational health is more likely to be overlooked."
In other results from the survey, just (7%) of the public were aware that 12,000 or more workers died each year from health conditions contracted at work.
More than a third (36%) thought that fewer than 500 deaths were caused by work-related illness each year, while half (50%) believed the annual toll was less than a thousand fatalities.
A further 16% said they did not know.
"Although workplace injuries can be tragic, life-changing events, occupational illness is a much bigger threat to UK business and its workforce. This research demonstrates that the true scale of the problem is largely underestimated and illustrates why employers need to be more proactive in protecting the health of their workers," Thomas added.
