The long term trend has seen
the rate of fatalities more than halve over the last 20 years. However,
provisional figures indicate that 144 people were killed while at work in
2015/2016 – up from 142 in 2014/5.
The Health and Safety Executive
has called on all sectors to learn lessons to ensure workers return home safe
from work.
Martin Temple, HSE Chair said:
“One death at work or life
needlessly shortened, is one too many and behind every statistic lies a real
story of loss and heartbreak and families left to grieve.
“Britain has one of the best
health and safety systems in the world, but we should always be looking to
improve and to prevent incidents that cost lives.
“This year HSE travelled the
country asking industry representatives, employers, unions, workers and others
what they could do to help GB work well. The response was hugely encouraging
and I would like to ask people to deliver on the commitments made, that will
help keep Britain’s workers alive.”
The new figures show the rate
of fatal injuries in key industrial sectors:
·
Forty three workers died in construction, the same as the
average for the previous five years.
·
In agriculture there were 27 deaths (compared to the five-year
average of 32).
·
In manufacturing there were 27 deaths (compared to five-year
average 22), but this figure includes three incidents that resulted in a total
of eight deaths.
·
There were six fatal injuries to workers in waste and recycling,
compared to the five-year average of seven, but subject to considerable yearly
fluctuation.
·
There were also 103 members of the public fatally injured in
accidents connected to work in 2015/16, of which 36 (35 percent) related to
incidents occurring on railways.
Comparisons of fatal injuries
by country or region are based on where the accident occurred. After taking
industrial composition into account, those regions and countries with seemingly
higher rates are not (statistically) different to the rest of GB. In 2015/16
the highest fatal injury rates across all countries and regions were Wales
(0.93 per 100,000 workers); Scotland (0.60); and Yorkshire and the Humber
(0.58). Due to the relatively small numbers and to reduce some of the yearly
fluctuation, when averaged across a five-year time period to 2014/15 those
regions with the highest fatal injury rates were also Wales (0.81), Scotland
(0.73) and Yorkshire and the Humber (0.70).
The statistics again confirm
the UK to be one of the safest places to work in Europe, having one of the
lowest rates of fatal injuries to workers in leading industrial nations.
HSE has also released the
latest available figures on deaths from asbestos-related cancer. Mesothelioma,
one of the few work related diseases where deaths can be counted directly,
contracted through past exposure to asbestos killed 2,515 in Great Britain in
2014 compared to 2,556 in 2013.
A more detailed assessment of
the data will be provided as part of the annual Health and Safety Statistics
release in early November.
Further information on these
statistics can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm
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