In this episode, we are joined Sarah Waters, Professor of French Studies at the University of Leeds, to look at a study, published by University of Leeds and Hazards Campaign, which calls on the HSE to monitor, regulate and ultimately prevent workplace suicides.

 Professor Waters is a specialist on French labour and the French workplace. The report, Work-related suicide: a qualitative analysis of recent cases with recommendations for reform, investigated 12 suicide cases that occurred between 2015 and 2020 to discover whether they could be attributed to the workplace.

 It stems from a Research England-funded study into a selection of suicide cases and found that employee suicides are still largely treated as an individual mental health problem that has no direct relevance to work or the workplace.

Prof Waters says: “The aim of the study was to look very closely at some of the work-related causal factors that might lead to suicide, and to look at some of the causal connections between suicide and work in the UK context.”

 Additional resources:

Work-related suicide: a qualitative analysis of recent cases with recommendations for reform report

Click here to read the full HSE statement on this report.

ONS – Males aged 45 to 49 years have the highest age-specific suicide rate

University of Manchester study: Suicide by middle-aged men

Karoshi – Can you work yourself to death?

Time millionaires: Meet the people pursuing the pleasure of leisure

Hazards Campaign: The Whole Story – Work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths

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