“Alarming” Health and Safety figures for 2006/07

New figures published in November 2007 by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) are ringing alarm bells for employers, the HSE and the Government.

The figures reveal a true picture of the real risks faced by real people, every day of their working lives and the suffering that occurs when health and safety management systems and practices fail. Last year over 140,000 reported workplace accidents took place resulting in employees suffering injuries such as fractures, chemical burns and amputations.

Geoffrey Podger, Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said, “The statistics indicate that last year alone in Great Britain 2.2 million people suffered from work related illnesses and 241 people were killed at work. While workplace injuries have reduced, we lost 30 million working days due to ill health. Last year HSE issued 20% more enforcement notices and industry was fined a total of over £13 million for flaunting health and safety laws.” Responding to the newly released figures HSC Chair Judith Hackitt said, “Employers have a legal duty to protect their employees and visible leadership from the top of the organisation can truly influence the health and safety culture in our changing work environments. To make workplaces in 21st century Britain healthier and safer we all need to work together to do better.

We use a range of enforcement measures to tackle workplace ill health and injuries and we do not hesitate to prosecute where necessary. The rising enforcement figures show that negligence in workplace health and safety is not tolerated. The figures also show that where we have intervened with all industry partners, together we have and can make a difference. We want to continue this. We must remember that with each injury or fatality there is a personal cost and suffering attached and we all therefore need to focus on the real health and safety agenda, not the trivia.”

What all employers need to know

1. The reporting of health and safety incidents at work is a statutory requirement set out under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). A reportable incident includes: a death or major injury; any accident which does not result in major injury, but the injured person still has to take over three days off their work to recover; a work related reportable disease, a member of the public being injured as a result of work related activity and taken to hospital for treatment; or a dangerous occurrence (which does not result in a serious injury, but could have done)
   
2. Click here for further details of specific training available from Safety Nett (UK) Limited
   
3. HSE publishes a full range of workplace health and safety statistics, these can be viewed at: http://hse.gov.uk/statistics/index.htm     
   
4. HSE information and news releases can be accessed on the internet www.hse.gov.uk

Article by Paul Simpson, Managing Director, Safety Nett (UK) Limited

Any views given in this article represent the opinion of the author and should not be considered as a statutory interpretation of the law

The author welcomes any comments or observations in relation to this article.

Date of article: 3 Jan 2008