November 10, 2006—The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) published the latest statistics on work-related ill health, workplace injury and safety enforcement in the UK.
The figures show that the number of working days lost due to work-related injury and ill health fell from 40 million in 2000/02 to 30 million working days in 2005/06.
There were 212 fatal injuries to workers in 2005/06, a decrease of 5% compared to 223 in 2004/05. Just over 40% occurred in two industries: construction (59) and agriculture, forestry and fishing.
Ill health accounted for around 24 million working days lost. Two million people were suffering from an illness they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work; 523 000 of these were new cases in the last 12 months. Stress and musculoskeletal disorders were by far the most common causes of absence.
Reported non-fatal major injuries to workers fell for the second year in a row to just under 30,000, a drop of 6% on 2004/05. Slips and trips have now overtaken falls from height as the major cause of construction accidents.
For more information, visit the HSC Web site.
