Fall in number of workplace deaths

The number of employee deaths in the workplace fell 10% in 2002-03 compared with 2001-02, official figures out today showed.

There were 226 fatalities among workers in the 12 months ending March 2003, against 251 in the previous 12 months, the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) said.

The rate of worker fatalities is now at the same level as three years ago and around a third of that recorded in 1981.

The number of fatal injuries to non-employees in workplaces fell by one to 392 in 2002-03 against the previous year, according to the figures for England, Scotland and Wales. Approximately two-thirds of these were due to acts of suicide or trespass on railway systems. There were 91 non-railway fatal injuries to members of the public. Of these, 80 were in the services industries, of which 45 were in health and social work.

The rate of reported major injury to employees rose by 1.9% in 2002-03 to 113 major injuries per 100,000 workers, although this was 3% lower than in 1999-2000.

Occupational health
Work-related ill health affected 2.3 million people in 2002-03, accounting for 33 million lost working days. Men accounted for more of the lost working days than women.

Occupation groups with the highest reported levels of ill health included protective services (for example police), health and social welfare associate professionals (for example nurses), skilled construction and building trades, and teaching and research professionals.

Musculoskeletal disorders - such as back pain and upper limb disorders - were the most commonly reported work-related illness, with an estimated 1.1 million people affected. This was followed by stress, depression or anxiety, with over half a million people affected.

The HSC said the balance of evidence suggested that the overall amount of people suffering from work-related ill health was likely to have risen since 1999-2000. This was essentially because the latest information suggested work-related stress was rising, while musculoskeletal disorders - the other major cause of ill health - showed no change.

A reduction in cases of asthma, and hints of a reduction in workers suffering from dermatitis were not enough to offset the stress increase, the HSC said.

Regions, sectors and causes
Of all the regions in Britain, Scotland had the highest number of fatal injuries to workers - up from 28 in 2001/02 to 36 in 2002/03. The number of major injuries to workers in Scotland rose marginally from 2,860 to 2,882 and the number of "over-three day" injuries to workers fell from 10,783 to 10,258.

In agriculture, there were 36 worker deaths compared with 39 in 2001-02, although with fewer employees now in agriculture, the rate of deaths (fatalities per employee) actually rose from 9.2 deaths per 100,000 workers to 9.5.

The HSC statistics, some of which were first published earlier this year, also showed that there were 71 construction worker deaths, with the rate of deaths falling, having risen in the three years from 1998-99 to 2000-01.

Falling from a height was the most common kind of fatal injury to workers, accounting for 22% of all worker deaths in 2002-03 and 14% of major injuries. Slipping and tripping remained the most common cause of employee major injury, accounting for 37% of all employee major injuries in 2002-03. Being struck by a moving vehicle accounted for 39 worker fatalities (17% of the total) and 2% of employee major injuries.

No 'step-change'
In 2002-03, the Health and Safety Executive issued 13,263 enforcement notices about possible breaches of health and safety at work regulations - an increase of 20% on the figure for 2001-02.

There were six fines in excess of £100,000 for breaches of health and safety at work. For the remaining fines, the average penalty per conviction was £5,491, a slight increase on the corresponding figure for 2001-02 of £5,468.

HSC chairman Bill Callaghan said today: "I am not surprised at these figures. They confirm the size of the occupational health problems we face and that progress on reducing injuries has broadly reached a plateau.

"I am disappointed that we have still not seen a step-change in health and safety performance."

The report "Health and Safety Statistics Highlights 2002/03" can be downloaded from the Health and Safety Executive website - see link above/right, where readers can also access more detailed statistical data and commentary via the statistics webpages.

Johnny Thomson