HSE Statistics 2021 Show Workplace Fatal Injuries Up 25%

HSE STATISTICS published in 2021 show that 142 workers were killed at work in Great Britain in 2020/21, an increase of 25% from the previous year’s 113.

Falls from height continue to be the most common cause of fatal injuries, accounting for 35 deaths in 2020/21. They make up almost a quarter of fatalities at 24.6%, according to the Heath and Safety Executive (HSE) provisional report.

Other common causes of workplace fatal injuries were being struck by a moving vehicle (25) and being struck by a moving object (17). Together with falls from height, the three types of accident are responsible for more than half of fatalities in 2020/21.

Construction Workplace Fatal Injuries

Of the total 142 deaths reported by HSE, 39 were in construction, that is 27.4%. The rate of fatal injury in construction is four times higher than the average rate across all industries. However, per 100,000 workers it is less than the rate in either agriculture, forestry and fishing or waste and recycling.

Older workers continue to be more at risk with around 30% of fatal injuries in 2020/21 involving workers aged 60 or over, even though such workers only make up around 11 per cent of the workforce.

Most construction fatalities were those who are employed, in spite of the fact that the industry has a high proportion of self-employed subcontractors.

In addition, members of the public continue to be killed in connection with work-related incidents. In 2020/21, 60 members of the public were killed as a result of a work-related incident.

HSE points out that the number of deaths in 2019/20 was low compared to the five year average of 2016/17-2020/21 which is 136.

Rates of fatal accidents across the UK regions were broadly similar, as was the overall fatality numbers with previous years, taking account of the reduction in hours worked in 2020 due to workers being furloughed,

Mesothelioma

The figures for Mesothelioma, which is a cancer contracted through past exposure to asbestos and is one of the few work-related diseases where deaths can be counted directly, show 2,369 people died in Great Britain in 2019. This is 7% lower than the average of 2,540 deaths over the previous 7 years.

Current mesothelioma deaths largely reflect occupational asbestos exposures that occurred before the 1980s. The figure for 2019 is consistent with projections that a reduction in total annual deaths would start to become apparent at this point, HSE says. However, it is still not certain how quickly annual deaths will decline.

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