HSE Publishes Workplace Ill Health and Injury Statistics

Provisional statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that the number of people in Britain injured and made unwell at work fell in the year April 2011 to March 2012.



Overall, 22,433 major injuries (such as amputations, fractures and burns) were reported – a rate of 89.9 injuries per 100,000 workers – compared with 24,944 in 2010/2011. The average for the past five years is 27,170.



In addition, 88,731 other injuries serious enough to keep people off work for four or more days were reported – a rate of 355.5 injuries per 100,000 workers – compared with 91,742 the previous year, and an estimated 1.1 million people said that they were suffering from an illness caused or made worse by their work, down from 1.2 million in 2010/2011. Of these, 452,000 were new illnesses occurring in the year. The average for the past five years was 1.25 million with an average of 554,000 new cases each year.



173 workers were fatally injured, down from 175 in the previous year. The average for the past five years was 196 worker deaths per year.



Workplace injury and ill health resulted in 27 million working days being lost, which is an average of 16.8 days per case. Of these, 22.7 million days were lost owing to ill health and 4.3 million owing to injury. These figures show a slight increase on 2010/2011 when 26.4 million working days were lost.



The cost to society in 2010/2011 of workplace injuries and ill health (excluding work-related cancer) was an estimated £13.4 billion.



There has also been little change in the industries in which workers are most likely to be injured or made unwell by their jobs, with construction (171.8 major injuries per 100,000 employees), agriculture (241.0 major injuries per 100,000 employees) and waste and recycling (397.6 major injuries per 100,000 employees) among the higher-risk sectors.