Today is World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2021. Perhaps now is a good time to reflect on how we’re doing in the UK with respect to our worker safety performance. Those in the health and safety industry and everyone with an interest in minimising workplace fatalities are eagerly waiting on the next official report from the Health … Read More
Workplace Fatal Injuries in Great Britain, 2020
The provisional Workplace fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2020 data were released by the HSE last week showing a decline in workplace fatalities from 149 in 2018/19 to 111 in 2019/20. While every one of the 111 fatalities is a tragic loss, the decrease in fatalities from 149, and indeed from the previous 5-year average (an annual average of 143 … Read More
What Can We Learn When We Include Member of Public Fatalities?
In our last post, which focused on the Transportation & Storage sector, we highlighted the number of workplace fatal injuries to members of the public and stated that “if you add in the member of public fatalities [to worker fatalities], Transportation & Storage accounts for by far the most fatalities with 66 in 2017/18, exactly double that of the next … Read More
H&S Statistics – Behind the Headlines
In our last post on breaking through the statistical plateau that is health and safety fatality rates in Great Britain, we reflected on the recent headlines that greeted the [provisional] increase in fatalities to 147 in 2018/19 from 141 in 2017/18 and the accompanying rise in fatalities caused by falls from height, 40 from 35. We took an action to … Read More
Breaking Through The Statistical Plateau
This is a difficult post with more questions than answers. Over time we’ll work to try to answer these questions. Some are just a matter of research, some are more philosophical and much more difficult to answer. The basic challenge is breaking through the statistical plateau that is the Great Britain worker fatality rate. For the past five or six … Read More
UK Health and Safety Statistics – The Road to Nowhere?
Earlier this month we continued our examination of UK worker fatality rates in an attempt to understand how best to break through the statistical plateau we’re now experiencing of 0.4-0.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers annually. There were three main points made: Comparing statistics between countries (even standardised across the EU) is pretty meaningless. The HSE segmentation of fatalities by [the … Read More
Are UK Health and Safety Statistics Leading to Complacency?
We’ve seen a plateauing in UK worker fatality rates (as reported by the HSE) over the past 4 to 5 years. This plateau at, or just under, 0.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers follows a long term downward trend and is to be applauded. Or, is it? Of course, we would all agree that any fatality is one too many and … Read More
Some Clarity on UK Health & Safety Stats vs Other Countries
“The UK consistently has one of the lowest standardised rates of fatal injury across the EU, lower than other large economies and the EU average.” That’s a quote from the 2018 Health and Safety at Work Summary Statistics for Great Britain report published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and discussed last month in our post What To Make … Read More
What To Make of the 2018 HSE Statistics?
You’re all aware that taking a break at work is likely to cause cancer, right? Or, stated more accurately, those who take breaks at work have a higher incidence of cancer than those who don’t. An indisputable fact? Or, an indisputable statistic? It may even be a contrived example used to illustrate that it’s the context, the narrative, that tells … Read More
2017/2018 Workplace Fatality Statistics – Plateau or Complacency?
The HSE have published their provisional statistics for workplace fatal injuries 2018 (meaning 2017/18). They look much like the previous years, and the five or so years before that. There is a slight uptick in the fatality rate per 100,000 across all sectors from 0.43 in 2017 to 0.45 (provisional) in 2018 which equates to 144 fatalities versus the prior … Read More
UK Health and Safety Statistics vs Other Countries – What Can We Learn?
When you look at official health and safety statistics in the UK, the situation appears positive. This particularly applies in relation to fatality rates which are low compared to historical levels. What is the real position, though, and how does the UK compare with other countries? The issue you face when considering this question comes down to the use of … Read More
It’s Official!! Your Employees Are At Greater Risk Than Your Contractors.
At the beginning of last month we posed the question, “Are Employees Really Safer than Contractors?” Anecdotally it seemed to be the case and the HSE fatality stats for 2015/16 supported the statement. On the face of it. However, digging into the data and removing the agriculture sector yielded a different picture, although an inclusive one due to what appeared … Read More
Are Employees Really Safer Than Contractors?
In our recent post, Contractor Management – Way More Than Orientation, we introduced the steps required to keep contractors safe while working in your facilities and highlighted why your duty of care goes much further than contractor orientation. We did this within the context of the higher fatality rates experienced by UK self-employed people (0.79 per 100,000) compared with employees … Read More
Near Misses, Russian Roulette and H. W. Heinrich
The difference between a near miss and an incident is often nothing more than luck. A game of chance but what are the odds: are we playing Russian roulette (with a 1 in 6 chance) or something with much longer odds altogether? The other questions then are how many events are there? Meaning, how many near misses? And can we … Read More
It Could Never Happen To Me, Could It?
There were 144 fatal injuries to workers in the UK in the fiscal year period 2015/16. A number, thankfully, with a long term downward trend although a number that seems to be levelling off over recent years. That couldn’t be you could it? I don’t mean one of the 144, but one of the duty holders held responsible for a … Read More
Asbestos In UK Schools – The Hidden Threat
The equivalent of 10 jumbo jets full of people die every year in Great Britain from diseases caused by exposure to asbestos. It is tempting to think that this is the sad legacy of our previous ignorance of asbestos and its deadly nature and that, over time, the death toll will fall. However, that’s not necessarily the reality. As we … Read More
