In our last post, Workplace Fatalities – Behind the Headlines, we posited that the significant drop in workplace fatality rates in 2019/20 was not an outlier and that the sharp increase of 2020/21 (back to the previous levels of the last decade) would prove to be the outlier. Of course, when the HSE announce the 2021/22 figures in July of … Read More
Workplace Fatalities – Behind the Headlines
The HSE have released their Workplace fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2021 report with provisional data showing 142 workers killed in workplace accidents in 2020/21. Doubtless you’ve already seen the data. Although only provisional data at this point, revisions at this time next year are likely to be minimal and 2020/21 will see annual fatalities confirmed somewhere in the 140-150 … Read More
World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2021 – How Are We Doing?
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
Does Trust Correlate with Safety Performance for Workers? (part 2 of 2)
In the first part of this two-part post exploring the possible correlation between trust and worker safety, we highlighted how countries with the highest degree of trust (in their fellow citizens and public institutions) also showed the best safety performance among their workers. Equally, those countries with the lowest trust displayed the worst safety performance. Accepting that the normalised worker … Read More
Does Trust Correlate with Safety Performance for Workers? (part 1 of 2)
Can we meaningfully measure ‘trust’ in society and can we correlate that with worker safety? Would a more trusting society lead to better safety performance? One way to do that would be to compare trust metrics and safety performance across multiple countries. Before diving into that, it’s worth examining why we’re asking the question in the first place? In our … 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
Manufacturing Safety by the Numbers (part 2 of 2)
In the first part of this two-part post we looked at the raw numbers for safety performance in the manufacturing sector with specific focus on discrete manufacturing. We noted that discrete manufacturing in the UK has an average fatality rate over the past 5 years that is 50% higher than that for all industry sectors and a non-fatal injury rate … Read More
Manufacturing Safety by the Numbers (part 1 of 2)
It’s our contention that, along with the construction sector, manufacturing will be key to leading the UK out of recession after the coronavirus lockdown ends. It’s our hope that this return to work and growth will be achieved without compromising (non-coronavirus related) worker safety. So how has the manufacturing sector performed compared to other industry sectors over recent years? Before … 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
Is the Health & Safety Executive Keeping Pace with Modern Working Practices?
The work environment is becoming much more complicated. At its simplest, companies have employees who all work at a company facility. This is the easiest structure to regulate and monitor when it comes to all aspects of employment law, including health and safety. The modern workplace is much more complicated than this, however. The people who work for companies today … 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
H.W. Heinrich vs. Sidney Dekker, Seconds Out…
This post is a scene-setter that compares and contrasts the zero harm policies advocated by H.W. Heinrich and the Safety Differently approach of Sidney Dekker who advocates focussing on major incidents and people’s ability to manage risk intuitively rather than worrying about near misses and minor incidents. In future posts we’ll tie the two approaches back to corporate governance as … Read More
UK Health & Safety – How Are We Really Doing?
With the recent release of the provisional figures for fatal injuries arising from accidents at work in Great Britain 2017 and being a month on from the awful disaster at Grenfell Tower, it seemed appropriate to take a moment to review the state of UK Health & Safety. What do the statistics tell us? What does the behaviour of the … 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
