Health Insights data

The workforce lost time rate (LTR) within the railway industry has consistently been higher than that of the UK workforce, with train operating companies often seeing the highest LTR across the industry. However, LTR within rail has been steadily decreasing since 2021, when Health Insights was implemented. This is costing the industry around £2000 per employee per year on average.

The dashboard enables further exploration of the data that sits behind these figures and better understanding of the types of health conditions causing the high LTR within rail. One of the key features of the dashboard is the Health and Wellbeing Index (HWI). The HWI is a risk-based measure that uses occupational health data to assess the impact of certain health conditions upon the individual, the employer, and society.

Find out how the Health and Wellbeing Index works here.

Reasons for self-reported sickness absence

This chart shows the five most reported reasons for sickness absence within the rail industry from January 2022 – October 2024, presented as a proportion of the total number of sickness absence occurrences per year. The data shows that the industry has a large issue with uncategorised sickness absence, however, there has been a fall in the number of uncategorised absences in the last three years. When uncategorised data is removed, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and mental health are consistently the largest causes of sickness absence in UK rail. In 2024, 15.32% of absences were due to MSD-related issues, and 14.25% of absences were due to mental health-related issues. This is consistent with what is seen in the general UK population. To focus on these two prominent issues, the September 2024 and January 2025 benchmarking groups focused on mental health and MSDs, respectively.

Clinician diagnosed health conditions

This chart shows the five most common reasons for referral to an occupational health specialist within the rail industry from January 2022 – October 2024, presented as a proportion of the total number of referrals per year. Whilst the data shows a similar issue with uncategorised referrals as with uncategorised absences, the problem is smaller for referrals than for absences. However, in 2024, 11.86% of OH referrals were categorised as unknown. The two most common reasons for OH referrals are the same reasons as for absence – mental health and MSDs. In 2024, 26.42% of OH referrals were due to mental health, and 24.80% of OH referrals were due to MSDs. When combined, this equates over half of all OH referrals within our participating companies.

More information

For more in-depth data and analysis, access the Rail Wellbeing Alliance data packs.

If you want to learn more about how this data is collected and what it takes to participate, visit our frequently asked questions.