Published on October 30th HSE’s figures show a reduction in deaths in UK workplaces withe to total falling from 175 last year to 173. However, workplace ill health continues to be a concern and this strengthens the likelihood of it being a key issue for FFI as we thought in our recent FFI white paper.
In the year to March 2012 fewer people were killed or injured at work in the UK (173 Vs 175) compared to 2010/11 and numbers remain below the five-year average
Fewer people suffering injury or workplace ill health headline figures include:
- 22,433 major injuries to employees were reported compared with 24,944 in 2010/11. The average for the past five years is 27,170
- 88,731 other injuries serious enough to keep people off work for four or more days were reported, down from 91,742 the previous year. The average for the past five years is 103,627
- 173 workers were fatally injured, down from 175 the previous year. The average for the past five years was 196 per year.
The HSE also says 1.1 million people said they were suffering from an illness caused or made worse by their work, down from 1.2 million in 2010/11.
The manufacturing sector accounted for about 10% of the British workforce, but for 25% of fatalities to employees and 16% of reported injuries. There were 31 fatal injuries in manufacturing last year and 17,495 reported non-fatal injuries. The rate of major injury in food manufacturing was twice that of the sector as a whole.
In manufacturing, 1.8 million working days were lost due to self-reported work-related illness and a further 651,000 due to self-reported work-related injury.
Chair of HSE, Judith Hackitt said:
“Any reduction in the number of people being injured or made unwell by their jobs should be welcomed. Given the challenging economic conditions which many sectors have faced in recent years, it is particularly encouraging to see continued reductions in levels of injury and ill health.
“Britain has earned the reputation of being one of the safest places in Europe to work, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. We need to ensure that we all focus on managing the real risks which lead to serious workplace harm.”
The highest risk sectors were construction, agriculture and waste and recycling.
There has also been little change in the industries in which workers are most likely to be injured or made unwell by their jobs – with construction (171.8 major injuries per 100,000 employees), agriculture (241.0 major injuries per 100,000 employees) and waste and recycling (397.6 major injuries per 100,000 employees) among the higher risk sectors.
The toll of injury and ill-health resulted in 27 million working days being lost, an average of 16.8 days per case, with 22.7 million days lost to ill-health and 4.3 million days lost to injuries. These figures are up slightly on 2010/11 when 26.4million working days were lost.
Workplace injuries and ill-health (excluding work related cancer) cost society an estimated £13.4billion in 2010/11
