ACADEMICS called today for work-related suicides to be investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Professor Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Professor Sarah Waters of the University of Leeds made the call in the British Medical Journal, receiving immediate backing from school leaders’ union the NAHT.

They spoke out following the death of head teacher Ruth Perry and said that at least eight other teachers are believed to have committed suicide because of problems at work.

Ms Perry took her own life in January after schools inspectorate Ofsted downgraded her school, Caversham Primary in Reading, from “outstanding” to “inadequate.”

Prof McKee and Prof Waters wrote that even though suicides and adverse working conditions were known to be linked, the HSE regulations on work-related deaths specifically exclude suicides.

They said that Ofsted “should publicly accept that it has a duty of care to teachers (and to its inspectors, some of whom are also traumatised by the events we have described).”

The two academics believe the HSE should follow the system used in France, where all work-related suicides are investigated.

Across the Channel, ”if there is even a suggestion of a link between suicide and working conditions, the burden of proof falls on the employer to show otherwise,” they said.

“In the UK, we do not even know with certainty how many teachers have killed themselves in circumstances linked to Ofsted inspections, but we are aware of at least eight others.

“Finally, as Ofsted says that it reports to ‘Parliament, parents, carers and commissioners,’ the Commons education select committee should conduct an urgent inquiry into its impact on the welfare of teaching staff,” the article said.

NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said: “We welcome this powerful intervention and the calls for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate all suicides linked to work, including in schools, and to launch an inquiry into work-related stress in education.

“The outpouring of grief and anger across the profession following the tragic death of Ruth Perry has been accompanied by upsetting evidence of other school leaders who have been left in very dark places due to Ofsted inspections.”