work-related illnesses are costing North-west employers around £150m a year.

The Health and Safety Executive estimates that 300,000 annual cases lead to lost working days and additional recruitment, administration and insurance costs.

Musculoskeletal conditions - including repetitive strain injury - top the North-west list with an estimated 150,000 cases a year.

They are followed by respiratory diseases (51,000), stress depression (38,000), trauma and poisoning (25,000), deafness and ear conditions (23,000) and headache and eyestrain (21,000).

The HSE in Manchester has launched a new campaign which features a video - "Make Health Your Business" - containing advice from business guru Sir John Harvey Jones and case studies from regional companies.

Sir John says in the video: "Employees are a company's most important asset. Unforgivably, many are made unnecessarily ill by their work.

"It is fundamental to each business to take care of people's health."

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