HSE Publishes Annual Injury and Ill-health Statistics for Great Britain

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Regulatory Article

08 November, 2019

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Ridwaan Omar
Partner and Head of Regulatory

The HSE has published its annual report "Health and safety at work - Summary statistics for Great Britain 2019". Despite Great Britain being one of the safest places to work compared to its EU counterparts, the HSE say the statistics show that the number of injuries and incidents of ill health in workplaces across Great Britain is "still too high".

During the 2018/19 period there were:

  • 1.4 million work-related ill health cases (new or long-standing) (estimates based on self-reports from the Labour Force Survey, people who worked in the last 12 months)
  • 147 fatal injuries to workers (RIDDOR)
  • 0.6 million non-fatal injuries to workers (estimates based on self-reports from the Labour Force Survey)

The report notes that agriculture, forestry and fishing, and construction continue to have significantly higher rates for workplace injuries and public administration and defence, human health and social work and education have higher rates of work-related ill health.

It is estimated in the report that the annual cost of workplace injury in 2017/18 amounted to £5.2 billion and the overall economic cost to Great Britain is estimated to be an eye watering £15 billion.

Forbes comment

Whilst it is clear from the report that there is plenty of room for improvement, the statistics overall demonstrate a downward trend in the rate of fatal injuries, and non-fatal injuries to workers. It is encouraging to note that the UK has one of the lowest rates of fatal injury across the EU and non-fatal injuries are at a similar level to other large economies in 2013. As a result, this has had a knock-on effect on the number of cases prosecuted and the number of notices issued. We anticipate that going forward the HSE will continue to focus on those sectors which have been highlighted as high-risk sectors such as construction and agriculture.

The HSE Annual report for 2019 can be found here.

For further advice on complying with health and safety obligations, defending HSE prosecutions, or any other matters contact….Ridwaan Omar

Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overall/hssh1819.pdf

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