New figures relating to workplace health and safety have shown a fall in the number of people killed as a result of accidents at work.
The figures, which come from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), relate to the period between April 2011 and March of this year and show 173 fatalities at work, down just a couple from the previous year’s figure but continuing a downward trend over the last five years which have an average fatality count of 196.
There was also a fall in major injuries reported, down from 24,944 to 22,433 and again reflecting a fall from the five-year average of 27,170. Other serious injuries which resulted in at least four days off work were also down, from 91,742 in 2010/11 to 88,731 and again showed an improving figure from the five-year average of 103,627. The HSE also reported a fall in those people who said they had suffered from an illness caused or aggravated by work.
The HSE itself prosecuted 551 cases in England and Wales, which was up by 6% on the year before and out of that number it gained 506 convictions. However local authority prosecutions were down, 23% on the previous year, while there was also a decline in the number of cases heard by the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland. The HSE statistics showed a total of 27 million days lost overall with 22.7 million of those down to work-related ill health and 4.3 million due to injury suffered in the workplace. The sectors identified as constituting the highest risk continued to be construction, agriculture and waste and recycling.
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