Workplace deaths fall

News | HSP
01.07.2008

There has been a small drop in workplace fatalities, although the average number has remained the same, according to provisional figures from the HSE.

There were 228 deaths in the 12 months to April 2008, down from 247 the previous year. The rate of deaths per 100,000 workers fell from 0.85 to 0.72.

Contributing to the slight fall in the past year were construction deaths, down from 79 to 72, and the services industry where there were 74 fatal incidents compared with 86 in 2006-07.

But the annual total is the same as the average for the past five years (230) showing that rates have plateaued after decades of downward movement. The rates are also stable over recent years.

HSE chair Judith Hackitt commented that "after many years of improvement, it is disappointing that we are on a performance plateau" and argued that greater commitment by top-level management in UK organisations could help restore the downward trend.

In our recent online poll, three-quarters of practitioners said the HSE was right to place so much emphasis on executive board-level involvement in health and safety management.

Could the workplace fatalities rate be reduced by more enforcement activity by the HSE? Vote in this week's poll on the right.