PCS welcomes new HSENI campaign highlighting more than 300 annual work related deaths
PCS has welcomed a major new TV and multimedia advertising initiative launched this by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI), aimed at driving greater awareness of the often-hidden risks to workers’ long-term health. The campaign is part of HSENI’s wider Workplace Health Programme, introduced in April 2025, which focuses on preventing occupational lung diseases, occupational cancers and musculoskeletal disorders.
The scale of the problem is stark. HSENI estimates that more than 300 people in Northern Ireland die each year due to past workplace exposure to harmful substances including dusts, fumes, gases and carcinogens. Tens of thousands more live with conditions caused or made worse by work, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asbestosis to stress, anxiety and musculoskeletal injuries. Across society, these illnesses carry an estimated annual cost of over £390 million and result in approximately 640,000 lost working days.
The new advertising phase, which will run across television, radio, print, outdoor platforms and social media, urges employers to treat risks to health with the same seriousness as familiar, immediate safety hazards. HSENI emphasises that work-related ill health is not inevitable. Simple measures, applied consistently and based on clear risk assessment, can prevent life‑changing conditions that too often remain undetected until it is too late.
PCS strongly supports this renewed focus on workplace health. Too many workers continue to suffer debilitating conditions because risks were not identified, controlled or taken seriously by employers. We long argued that every workplace has health risks, and that the legal requirement to protect workers’ health is equal to the duty to keep them physically safe. The campaign’s emphasis on prevention, practical guidance and employer responsibility aligns closely with PCS’s long-standing demands for stronger enforcement, better education and a workplace culture that prioritises long-term wellbeing.
Amplifying the message, however, is not enough, and employers must take concrete steps to improve health and safety for all workers and prevent these deaths and injuries. That’s where trade union health and safety representatives play a vital role – pushing employers to meet their obligations and holding them to account when they don’t. More information on health and safety is available on the PCS website.