The latest annual injury and ill health statistics recently released from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, show 1.3 million workers were suffering from work-related ill-health, and there were 609,000 workplace injuries in 2016/17. The figures show that while Britain remains one of the safest places to work, there is still work to do to drive figures down.
“These latest figures should act as a spur to reduce the impact of ill-health and injury on Britain’s workforce and businesses, and we cannot rest on our reputation,” said Martin Temple, HSE Chair.
Workplace injury and new cases of ill health cost Britain £14.9bn a year with 31.2 million working days lost. The annual statistics, compiled by HSE from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and other sources, cover work-related ill health, workplace injuries, working days lost, costs to Britain, and enforcement action taken. Top line statistics show that in 2016/17 there were:
- 137 fatal injuries in Britain’s workplaces
- 70,116 other injuries reported by employers
- 12,000 lung disease deaths estimated to be linked to past work exposures
- 554 cases prosecuted with fines from convictions totaling £69.9 million
View the full report here.
