Work Related Injury Costing Britain Over £14 Billion per Year
The latest injury and ill-health figures published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have revealed that over one million individuals are becoming ill due to work. This amounts to a total of £14.3 billion being spent each year in relation to work related illnesses.
Key Figures
Britain remains one of the safest places to work in Europe, however approximately 27.3 million working days were lost due to work related ill health or injury in 2014/15.
The latest statistics released by the HSE show that in the same year, 611,000 injuries occurred in the workplace, whilst 142 workers were killed whilst at work. The latter figure is equivalent to a rate of fatal injury of 0.46 per 100,000 workers – this compares to an average rate of 0.53 for the previous five years.
In total, around 1.2 million individuals suffered from a work related illness in 2014/15, 516,000 of which were new cases. The number of former workers (those who last worked over 12 months ago) who were suffering from an illness which was caused or made worse by their past work totalled 0.8 million.
According to the report, ‘dealing with difficult customers, patients, pupils etc.’ and ‘lifting or moving people or heavy loads’ were the two most common self-reported risk factors in the workplace.
Prosecution
In total, 586 Injury at Work related cases were prosecuted by HSE in England and Wales in the year 2014/15.
70 cases were prosecuted by Local authorities in England and Wales, whilst a further 72 cases were prosecuted by the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland.
In total, 12,430 enforcement notices were issued by all enforcing authorities throughout 2014/15.
Health & Safety Executive
HSE’s Chair, Judith Hackitt, released the following statement with regards to the latest statistics:
“It’s encouraging that there have been improvements in injuries and ill health caused by work related activities. But behind the statistics are people, their families, friends, work colleagues, directly affected by something that’s gone wrong, that is usually entirely preventable. Nobody should lose their life or become ill simply from doing their job. These figures show that despite the great strides and improvements made over the last 40 years since Britain’s health and safety regime was established, there is still more that can be done”.
The full statistical report can be found online via HSE here.
Injury at Work – Expert Advice
If you have been injured in the workplace and you would like expert advice on this type of case, contact Hampson Hughes Solicitors today on 0800 888 6888 or email
Source: Health & Safety Executive
