Latest HSE figures show health and safety at work situation for Great Britain

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has just released its latest report into health and safety at work, giving a detailed look into workplace health across the country.

• The 2018 figures show that over half a million injuries were reported in the workplace, with 555,000 injuries in total being reported in the Labour Force survey.
• Under RIDDOR, a total of 71,062 injuries were reported
• Almost 31 million days of work were lost due to workplace injuries and sickness

Which are the worst hit industries?

The statistics show that some industries fare better than others when it comes to protecting workforces from injuries and ill-health caused by their occupation. The lowest rates of work related injury come from the communication and information sectors, professional, scientific and professional activities industry and administrative and support services.

Arts, entertainment and recreation, plus waste supply and management, and transport and storage were statistically average when it came to workplace injury rates per 100,000 workers. In contrast, agriculture, forestry and fishing, public admin and defence, construction and manufacturing reported statistically much higher averages of workplace injury.

Non-fatal injuries

While there were 550,000 non-fatal injuries self-reported by workers, just 71,062 non-fatal injuries were reported by employers. The majority of injuries resulted in up to seven days off work, with 135,000 requiring more than seven days absence to recover.

The most common cause of a non-fatal injury by far was slips, trips and falls, followed by handling, lifting and carrying and being struck by a moving object.

While these numbers show hundreds of thousands of injuries are still occurring in workplaces around the country each year, many resulting in multiple lost working days, the number of accidents is actually falling year-on-year. Since 2001, the number of self-reported injuries in the workplace has fallen by around half. The number of non-fatal injuries reported by the employer has also fallen, down around 58% since 1986/87 according to the HSE’s estimates.

Fatal injuries at work

The number of fatal injuries at work was much lower than non-fatal accidents reported. The main cause of fatal injury was a fall from height, with an average of 37 incidents per year, suggesting employers need to be much more stringent about working at height training and safety equipment.

The second most common cause of a fatal workplace injury was being struck by a moving vehicle, which accounts for around 26 fatal injuries per year– something that could potentially be avoided with high-vis clothing – and being struck by a moving object.

For more information on how you can protect your workforce contact Wearwell on sales@wearwell.co.uk or call 01827 63651.