Provisional statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on workplace ill health and injury in Britain between April 2011 and March 2012 have shown a slight improvement in a number of key areas.
According to the figures:
- 22,433 major injuries such as amputations, fractures and burns, to employees were reported - a rate of 89.90 injuries per 100,000 workers - compared with 24,944 in 2010/11. The average for the past five years is 27,170.
- 88,731 other injuries serious enough to keep people off work for four or more days were reported - a rate of 355.5 injuries per 100,000 employees - down from 91,742 the previous year. The average for the past five years is 103,627.
- An estimated 1.1 million people said they were suffering from an illness caused or made worse by their work, down from 1.2 million in 2010/11. Of these, 452,000 were new illnesses occurring in-year. The average for the past five years was 1.25 million with an average 554,000 new cases each year.
- 173 workers fatally injured - down from 175 the previous year. The average for the past five years was 196 worker deaths per year.
The toll of injury and ill-health resulted in 27 million working days being lost, an average of 16.8 days per case, with 22.7 million days lost to ill-health and 4.3 million days lost to injuries. These figures are up slightly on 2010/11 when 26.4 million working days were lost.
Workplace injuries and ill-health (excluding work related cancer) cost society an estimated £13.4 billion in 2010/11.