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24th July 2015

Provisional annual data released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveals 142 workers were fatally injured at work between April 2014 and March 2015 (a rate of 0.46 fatalities per 100,000 workers). This compares to last year’s all-time low of 136 (0.45 fatalities per 100,000 workers). Fatal injuries at work are thankfully rare events and as a consequence, the annual figures are subject to chance variation. 

The figures show a small change from previous years, sustaining a long term trend that has seen the rate of fatalities more than halve over the last 20 years. The statistics again confirm the UK to be one of the safest places to work in Europe, having one of the lowest rates of fatal injuries to workers in leading industrial nations. 

The new figures show the rate of fatal injuries in several key industrial sectors: 

  • 35 fatal injuries to construction workers were recorded – a rate of 1.62 deaths per 100,000 workers, compared to an average of 45 deaths in the past five years and a decrease from the 44 deaths recorded in 2013/14.

  • 33 fatal injuries to agricultural workers were recorded – a rate 9.12 deaths per 100,000 workers, the same as the average of 33 deaths in the past five years and an increase from the 27 deaths recorded in 2013/14.

  • Five fatal injuries to waste and recycling workers were recorded – a rate of 4.31 deaths per 100,000 workers, compared to an average of six deaths in the past five years and an increase from the four deaths recorded in 2013/14. 

    HSE has also released the latest available figures on deaths from asbestos-related cancer. Mesothelioma, one of the few work related diseases where deaths can be counted directly, contracted through past exposure to asbestos killed 2,538 in Great Britain in 2013 compared to 2,548 in 2012. 

    The information relates to the latest 'full-year' statistics on fatal injuries in the workplace, for 2014/15.

  •  The provisional figure for the number of workers fatally injured in 2014/15 is 142, and corresponds to a rate of fatal injury of 0.46 deaths per 100,000 workers.

  •  The figure of 142 worker deaths in 2014/15 is 9% lower than the average for the past five years (156). The latest rate of fatal injury of 0.46 compares to the five-year average rate of 0.53.

  • The finalised figure for 2013/14 is 136 worker fatalities, and corresponds to a rate of 0.45 deaths per 100,000 workers.

  • Over the latest 20-year time period there has been a downward trend in the rate of fatal injury, although more recently (since 2008/09) the trend is less clear.

    There were 102 members of the public fatally injured in accidents connected to work in 2014/15 (excluding railways-related incidents).

 
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