The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has released annual figures for work-related fatalities – as well as the number of people known to have died from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma in 2015.
The provisional annual data for work-related fatal accidents reveals that 137 workers were fatally injured between April 2016 and March 2017 – a rate of 0.43 per 100,000 workers and the second lowest year on record.
HSE says there has been a long-term downward trend in the number of fatal injuries to workers, which have halved over the last 20 years – however, in recent years, the trend shows signs of levelling out.
HSE Chair Martin Temple said:
“Every fatality is a tragic event that should not happen – while we are encouraged by this improvement on the previous year, we continue unwaveringly on our mission to prevent injury, death and ill health by protecting people and reducing risks.”
The new figures show the rate of fatal injuries in several key industrial sectors, with 30 fatal injuries to construction workers recorded.
HSE says that, while this accounts for the largest proportion of fatalities per sector, this is the lowest number on record for the sector. Over the last five years, the number has fluctuated, with the annual average for the last five years being 39.
The annual average rate of fatal incidents in construction over the last five years is around four times higher than the total rate of deaths in industry, however.
A total of 27 fatal injuries to agricultural workers were recorded – and this sector continues to account for a large share of the annual fatality count. It has the highest rate of fatal injury of all the main industry sectors – around 18 times as high as the all industry rate.
In waste and recycling, 14 fatal injuries to workers were recorded. HSE says that, despite being a relatively small sector in terms of employment, the annual average fatal injury rate in waste and recycling over the last five years is around 15 times as high as the all industry rate.
The fatalities in the waste and recycling sector in 2016-2017 include the single incident at Hawkeswood Metal Recycling Ltd in Birmingham on 7 July 2016, which resulted in five deaths.
The new figures also highlight the risks to older workers – around one-quarter of fatal injuries in 2016-2017 involved workers aged 60 or over, even though such workers made up only around 10% of the workforce.
There were also 92 members of the public fatally injured in accidents connected to work in 2016-2017 – nearly half of these occurred on railways, with the remainder occurring across a number of sectors, including public services, entertainment and recreation.
Mesothelioma is one of the few work related diseases where deaths can be counted directly, and deaths as a result of the disease contracted through past exposure to asbestos killed 2,542 in Great Britain in 2015, compared to 2,519 mesothelioma work-related deaths in 2014.
The current figures relating to asbestos-related cancer reflect widespread exposures before 1980 – annual deaths are therefore expected to start to reduce after this current decade, says HSE.
A fuller assessment of work related ill-health and injuries, drawing on HSE’s full range of data sources, will be provided as part of the annual Health and Safety Statistics release on 1 November 2017.
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