Health And Safety By Numbers

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE)'s annual statistics for 2015/16 were released this week and reveal that, in key areas health and safety performance continues to plateau.

In this article, we look at some of the key trends emerging from the figures and consider what businesses can expect in terms of health and safety enforcement, particularly in light of the new sentencing guidelines which continue to bite hard.

Vital statistics

Work related deaths: 144 Non-fatal injuries to workers: 600,000 RIDDOR reportable "7 day" injuries: 152,000 Cases of work related illness: 1.3 million Working days lost due to injury and ill health: 30.4 million Annual costs of workplace injury: £4.8 billion What does this tell us?

Whilst there had been a long-term downward trend in the rate of fatal injury, this had shown signs of levelling off in recent years. Overall that stagnation continues.

The number of fatalities, though provisional, is up two cases on last year albeit the rate per 100,000 workers remains stable at 0.46. 67 of those who lost their lives were members of the public.

Geographically the picture varies hugely. The North West continues to be the most "dangerous" region with the highest number of fatalities, as well as the highest non-fatal injury rate. The area also accounted for almost 14% of all prosecution cases in England, higher than anywhere else.

Working at height continues to provide most cause for concern, accounting for more than a quarter of fatalities, with the bulk of these occurring in the construction sector. The serious risk posed by falls from height is brought into sharp focus by the non-fatal injury causes, which show just 6% were caused in this way.

Whilst the number of RIDDOR reportable non-fatal injuries has dropped slightly, the HSE issue a word of caution regarding those figures. "Non-fatal injuries to employees are substantially under-reported by employers, with current levels of reporting estimated at around a half; and the reporting of injuries to the self-employed a much lower proportion".

In terms of our most risky industries, all of the following are classified as having a "statistically significantly higher" workplace injury rate:-

Agriculuture Construction Transport/storage Manufacturing Wholesale/retail trade Accommodation/food service activities However, when set in the global context, the UK continues to perform well from a safety perspective. The fatal injury rate is comparatively low from a global...