FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
According to the latest figures published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 135 workers were killed in work-related incidents in Great Britain in the last year.
The annual data release published by the HSE, Great Britain’s workplace regulator, covers the period from April 2022 to March 2023.
The industries with the highest deaths were:
- Construction (45)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing (21)
- Manufacturing (15)
- Transportation and storage (15)
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing has the highest rate of fatal injury per 100,000 workers of all the main industrial sectors followed by waste and recycling.
The three most common causes of fatal injuries are:
- Falls from height (40)
- Being struck by a moving object (29)
- Being struck by a moving vehicle (20)
The total of 135 worker deaths in 2022/23 is higher than the previous year (123) but is in line with pre-pandemic levels. The figure for 2020/21 was 145.
A further 68 members of the public were killed following a work-related incident in 2022/23. This is a decrease of 20 from last year.
HSE’s Chief Executive Sarah Albon said: “Any loss of life in the workplace is a tragedy.
“While these figures show Great Britain is one of the safest countries in the world to work, safety must continue to be at the top of everyone’s agenda.
“Our mission is to protect people and places and we remain committed to maintaining safe workplaces and holding employers to account for their actions.”
HSE has also published the annual figures for Mesothelioma, a cancer caused by past exposure to asbestos. The figures show 2,268 people died from the disease in 2021. This is a fall of 302 compared with the 2,570 deaths in 2020 and substantially lower than the average of 2,520 deaths per year over the period 2012-2019.
Asbestos-related diseases take decades to develop. Most people with them today will largely have been exposed before the tightening of controls and the use of asbestos was banned in 1999. Prior to that point, asbestos was used extensively in construction.
