LONDON, Oct. 3 -- Work related stress, leading to millions of lost working days in British industry, was described Wednesday as an epidemic.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) which represents millions of workers, issued a comment after the official Health and Safety Executive (HSE) released figures Wednesday on days lost in the workplace.

It showed that 15.4 million working days were lost to work-related stress, depression and anxiety in 2017-2018, an increase of nearly 3 million compared to a year earlier when 12.4 million working days were lost. It represented more than half (57 percent) of all work days lost during the year.

There were 239,000 new cases of work-related stress, depression and anxiety reported over the last year, the study added. In total around 600,000 workers suffered depression, stress or anxiety in 2017-18.

When new and long standing cases of work related ill health are added, it totals 1.4 million workers in Britain.

Staff in education, health and social care had the highest levels of work related stress, anxiety or depression, said the HSE report.

Commenting on the HSE figures TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Work-related stress is a growing epidemic. It's time employers and the government took it more seriously.

"Warm words are not going to fix this problem. Managers need to do far more to reduce the causes of stress and support employees struggling to cope.

"This means tackling issues like excessive workloads and bullying in the office. Toxic workplaces are bad for staff and productivity.

"My advice to anyone suffering from stress, anxiety and depression at work is to join a union. This is the best way to get your concerns heard."

The HSE report showed 44 percent of staff with stress, anxiety or depression said workload was the cause, with 13 percent citing violence, threats or bullying.

The annual cost of new cases of work related illnesses in 2017-18 totalled 12.5 billion US dollars, with the cost of work place injuries totalling 6.7 billion US dollars.