WORKPLACE stress now kills three times the number of people than physical accidents at work across Europe, new research has revealed as unions, workers and families mark International Workers Memorial Day (IWMD) today.

Artificial intelligence (AI), the gig economy and the green transition have created an “epidemic” of workplace stress, the European TUC warned.

The study by the ETUC revealed 6,190 annual deaths through coronary heart disease are attributable to psychosocial risks at work across the EU’s 27 countries and Britain, with another 4,843 people taking their lives due to work-related depression. 

These deaths are around three times as many worker deaths than 3,286 workers killed in physical accidents across the EU in 2022.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “No-one should be pushed to the brink, and left stressed and unwell because of their job.

“But too many in the UK are stuck in poor-quality jobs which lead to work-related stress and illness.”

He highlighted the government’s Employment Rights Bill’s measures to crack down on “exploitative practices like zero-hours contracts and giving people more security will boost workers’ health, well-being and productivity.”

Mr Nowak will today speak at a IWMD remembrance service in Hartlepool, warning that Britain still lags behind asbestos removal — the biggest cause of work-related death in Britain.

The TUC is calling for a new legal duty to safely remove asbestos, highlighting that more people die from asbestos-related cancers in year than in road traffic accidents.

He said: “Every year, more than 5,000 people die in Britain from an asbestos-related illness. The only way to bring this awful death rate down is to get rid of asbestos in our workplaces.”

The theme of this year’s IWMD commemorations is AI and digital platforms and their impact on workers’ health and safety.

Hazards Campaign chairwoman Janet Newsham urged the government to invest in better health and safety for workers and warned that decades of underfunding and under-resourcing with increased responsibilities mean the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is “running on empty.”

She urged Minister of State for Social Security and Disability Stephen Timms to increase funding for the HSE to keep people in work.

The call was backed by transport union TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust.

She said: “Work-related ill-health is at an all-time high, a direct consequence of sustained cuts to health and safety resources. 

“There has been a dramatic decline in the number of inspections the HSE can carry out, seriously undermining its ability to protect workers.

“The government must recognise that properly funded health and safety enforcement is essential.”

At a joint ETUC-European Trade Union Institute for Research conference in Brussels today, ETUC general secretary Esther Lynch will say: “The world of work is changing — rapidly, profoundly and permanently. Digitalisation, AI robotics, platform work, the green transition, are reshaping how we labour and live. 

“But while these transformations offer new opportunities, they also bring new dangers. 

“Chief among them are the increasing psychosocial risks faced by workers: stress, burnout, anxiety, harassment, isolation and emotional exhaustion. These are not fringe issues. They are systemic and they are escalating.”

ETUC confederal secretary Giulio Romani has added: “The huge rise in telework and digitalisation since the Covid-19 pandemic has further blurred the boundaries between work and personal life, leading to longer working hours and an always-on-call culture that has taken a severe toll on workers’ health.

“On International Workers Memorial Day, trade unions remember the dead and fight for the living. Today that means ensuring we have laws which protects people’s mental and physical health.”

IWMD commemoration events have been held across Britain over the weekend.

Aberdeen TUC president Tommy Campbell, in a speech given at the city’s Persley walled garden on Saturday, said that this year’s theme “emphasises the importance of safe and healthy workplaces as a fundamental right for all workers.”

Attendees laid a wreath at the workers’ memorial in the garden.

Bakers’ union president Ian Hodson gave a speech at an IWMD event held in Preston on Saturday before a 50-strong audience. 

A minute’s silence was held before a march to a memorial outside the old town hall.