This Europe: Yet more to fret about as bill for stress at work climbs to £13bn

Bullying bosses, unreasonable deadlines and other forms of workplace stress are costing Europe €20bn (£13m) a year in health costs. The European Commission cited stress as the second most common occupational health problem in the EU after back pain yesterday, and said 28 per cent of employees, or 41.2 million people, were affected in 2000 – more than the entire population of Spain.

The report also said that heart disease, strokes and cancer – some of the biggest killers – were related either directly or indirectly to the effects of stress. It quoted figures from the European Heart Network, which estimates that 16 per cent of cardiovascular diseases among men and 22 per cent among women were due to work-related stress.

The EU document, produced by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, says:"Work-related stress per se probably does not cause cancer but is known to contribute to behaviour that secondarily increases the risk of that disease." At least half of all working days lost in the EU can be attributed to stress and, in the UK alone, five million days a year are thought to be wasted because of it.

The European Commissioner who launched the report, Anna Diamantopoulou, said women, on average, suffered more work-related stress than men.

Three million workers have suffered sexual harassment, six million have experienced physical violence and 12 million have been victims of bullying, she said. Tight deadlines, lack of control over conditions and hours, noise and monotony are other important factors.

Lennart Levi, the emeritus professor of psychosocial medicine at Sweden's Karolinska Instituet, said: "Stress is a 'stone-age' mechanism that was originally genetically programmed into our ancestors to help them fight or flee threats such as a pack of wolves. At a physiological level it increases the production of the hormones, notably adrenaline, needed for physical activity, raising our heart rate, blood pressure and metabolism."

At the European Parliament in Strasbourg officials used a giant foam "stress ball" to kick off the campaign. The drive to raise awareness of stress-related problems will culminate in a special week designed to focus on the issue in October.