Fatal injuries at record low

London - The number of people killed at work in Britain has fallen to a record low, new figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveal. Provisional data shows that 180 workers were killed between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009 – a rate of 0.6 per 100,000 employees – down from 233 in 2007/08 and 17% lower than the previous lowest total of 217, recorded in 2005/6.

“There is inevitably variation in the figures year on year, but we can take heart from the fact that Great Britain consistently has fewer fatal injuries than comparable industrialised nations in the rest of Europe, said HSE Chair Judith Hackitt. “This statistical snapshot needs careful analysis to help us to understand underlying factors, including the impact of the recession.”

According to Hackitt, statistics on fatal injuries do not give us the whole picture. Work-related ill health, she said, is a significant problem and accounts for four times more working days lost than workplace injury, so there is still a major challenge we all face to prevent death, injury and ill health in all of our workplaces.

These figures are the first fatal injury statistics to be published since the recession was confirmed in January 2009 and, said Hackitt: “The number and proportion of workers being killed in the workplace is likely to reduce in an economic downturn. But we also know from the past that the number and the rate of fatal injuries increase when trading conditions pick up. These statistics are encouraging but there is no magic wand in health and safety.”

HSE said sizeable falls have been recorded in some of the historically most dangerous industries in Britain.

. 26 fatal injuries to agricultural workers were recorded – a rate of 5.7 per 100,000 workers – a big reduction in the 46 recorded in 2007/08 and the latest five year average (40)

. 53 fatal injuries to construction workers were recorded – a rate of 2.4 per 100,000 workers – a significant fall from the 72 recorded in 2007/08 and average number of fatalities (70) for the previous five years

. 63 fatal injuries to services workers were recorded, a rate of 0.3 per 100,000, and a fall from the figure for 2007/08 (73) and the latest five year average (76)

. 32 fatal injuries to manufacturing workers were recorded, a rate of 1.1 per 100,000, representing a slight fall from 2007/08 (33) and the average for the previous five years (37)

The new figures show that compared with the latest data available for the four other leading industrial nations in Europe – Germany, France, Spain and Italy – Great Britain has over the last five years had the lowest rate of fatal injuries.