The HSE recently published health and safety statistics for 2017/18, which highlighted some startling facts.
Location
Although the figures show that accidents happen within many different industries throughout the UK, fatalities are likely to happen in some places, more than others.
Based on UK averages, workers are more likely to die due to an incident in the workplace in Wales than any other part of the UK. On the other hand, research has shown that people that live and work in the South East of England are least likely to die due to an accident at work.
Causes
The 5 most common causes of work-based fatalities were:
- Falls from a height (31%)
- Struck by a moving vehicle (23%)
- Struck by a moving object (20.3%)
- Trapped by something collapsing/overturning (14.2%)
- Contact with moving machinery (11.5%)
In addition, someone in the UK dies from lung disease that can be linked to past workplace exposure to asbestos every 40 minutes!
Age
As to be expected, older workers are more likely to have an accident in the workplace. Specifically, the figures indicate a significant increase in workplace fatalities from the age of 35, with the likelihood increasing up until retirement age. Workers who are 65 and over are 6 times more likely to suffer from a fatal injury.
Gender
Men are 23 times more likely to die in the workplace than women. While this could be attributed to the fact that men statistically occupy more physically intensive occupations, data was drawn from a wide variety of occupations in which women also work in high volume. As a result, the figures suggest that, on average, men are more at risk of suffering a fatal workplace injury across any industry or sector.
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Need advice?
If you have any questions about health and safety in your workplace, please contact us on 02920 853794 or at lauren.hill@thomas-carroll.co.uk.
