New year safety plea as work deaths almost unchanged

A total of 173 workers were killed at work, compared to 175 worker deaths during 2010/11. More than 23,000 workers also suffered a major injury.

Some areas have fared better, and in the Humber improvements have already been made. The three deaths and 505 major injuries in the region compares with nine deaths and 571 major injuries in 2010/11.

Another 1,623 workers suffered injuries which required at 
least three days off work in 2011/12, compared with 1,780 in 2010/11.

The latest provisional figures show that nationwide, on average, six in every million workers were killed while at work between April 2011 and March 2012.

High-risk industries include construction, which had 49 deaths last year, agriculture with 33 deaths, manufacturing with 31 and waste and recycling with five – making up more than half of all workplace deaths in Great Britain during 2011/12.

Urging employers to make the safety of workers their top priority for 2013, David Snowball, Health and Safety Executive Director for Scotland and Northern England, said: “Each year, instead of enjoying the occasion, families of workers in the Yorkshire region who failed to come home from work safely spend Christmas and the New Year thinking of absent loved ones.

“Hundreds of other workers who have had their lives changed forever by major injury will be experiencing difficulties of their own.

“When put into this kind of context, it is clear why health and safety in British workplaces needs to be taken seriously. I implore employers to tackle the real dangers that workers face rather than focussing on the trivial or mire themselves in pointless paperwork.

“My New Year wish is that we can reduce the number of deaths and major injury in 2013 and make the year ahead a happier one for many families.”

Information on tackling health and safety dangers in workplaces is available on HSE’s website at www.hse.gov.uk.

Based on available data (2007), Britain has the lowest rate of fatal injuries to workers among the five leading industrial nations in Europe – the others are Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

The figures for 2011/12 will be finalised in June 2013 following any necessary adjustments in case new facts emerge about whether the accident was work-related.