Around 30 million working days were lost due to work-related illnesses during 2003 and 2004, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reported.
The HSE said an estimated 2.2 million people in Britain believe they suffer from an illness either caused or made worse by current or previous jobs.
Each person suffering from a work-related condition took an estimated 22 days off work during the twelve-month period, averaging 1.3 days per British worker.
Musculoskeletal illness, followed by stress, depression or anxiety were the most common types of reported work-related absences, the HSE said, with 1.1m and 0.6m people respectively reporting a current or past illness .
The HSE said the rate of new cases of work-related illnesses had decreased from 2002 to 2003 levels.
