HSE Press Release C051:02 - 19 November 2002

HSC publishes "Health & Safety in Local Authority Enforced Sectors: HELA National Picture 2002"

The Health & Safety Commission (HSC) today publishes the latest detailed statistics on workplace safety, ill health, inspection and enforcement action in local authority (LA) enforced sectors. The document can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/books.htm

In April 2001 the Incident Contact Centre (ICC) was introduced to receive and record all RIDDOR notifications centrally. Provisional figures for 2001/02 show a reduction in the number of fatalities to workers, from 19 in 2000/01 to 12 in 2001/02, whilst fatalities to members of the public increased from 21 to 27, continuing a rising trend from 1996/97. HSC published the fatal injuries statistics for all sectors in July 2002, following special quality assurance of fatal records. The 2001/02 provisional non-fatal injury statistics will be released on 10 December following extra quality assurance work, connected with the new system of reporting, which has taken longer than anticipated.

T he main points for 2000/01 finalised statistics are:

The rate of reported major injury has fallen gradually over the past four years to 47.5 per 100,000 employees in 2000/01. The rate of over-three-day injuries fell by 5% in 2000/01 to 211.4.
Non-fatal injuries to members of the public fell from 7,567 in 1999/2000 to 5,315 in 2000/01. Numbers have fluctuated widely since the introduction of RIDDOR 95.
The number of full-time equivalent LA enforcement officers fell by 4% in 2000/01 to 1,070, continuing the recent downward trend. There was a consequent fall in the number of visits to premises from 313,000 to 300,000 and a 5% reduction in formal enforcement notices issued. Overall, the rate of visits has fallen by almost a quarter in the last five years.
In 2000/01, 401 informations were laid, of which 88% resulted in a conviction. The average fine per conviction was £3,903, 15% lower than the previous year (£4,595).
Results from the Self-reported Work-related Illness Survey 1998/99 indicated that 366,000 people who worked in the past 12 months suffered from an illness in that period attributed to their current or most recent job in the LA enforced sector. Musculoskeletal disorders were the most commonly reported condition, followed by stress, depression and anxiety. This estimate will be updated in next year's National Picture using results from the Self-reported Work-related Illness Survey 2001/02.

Copies of Health and safety in local authority enforced sectors: HELA National Picture 2002 are free and can be ordered online at: http://books.hse.gov.uk or from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA (Tel: 01787 881165/Fax: 01787 313995).

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. 410 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales are responsible for enforcing health and safety law in 1.2 million premises, such as offices, retail/wholesale distribution outlets, hotel and catering establishments, residential care homes, consumer services and the leisure industry. Section 18(4) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires LAs to perform their duties in accordance with guidance from HSC.

2. HSC proposes new or updated laws and standards, and provides information and advice, whilst enforcement is divided between LAs and HSE, depending on the main activity carried out at work premises. The HSE/LA Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA) was set up in 1975 to ensure consistency in enforcement among LAs and between LAs and HSE.

3. The Revitalising Health and Safety strategy statement was launched by the Chair of the HSC and the Deputy Prime Minister in June 2000. It includes a 44-point action plan which aims to achieve, by 2010, the following national targets for improving health and safety:

to reduce the number of working days lost per 100,000 workers from work-related injury and ill-health by 30%;
to reduce the incidence rate of cases of work-related ill-health by 20%;
to reduce the incidence rate of fatalities and major injuries by 10%; and
to achieve half the improvement under each target by 2004.

4. New arrangements for "National Statistics'" were also launched by the Government in July 2000, to enhance the integrity and quality of official statistics. The National Statistics logo, which is on the HELA National Picture 2002, means that the statistics concerned must be produced to high professional standards, subject to regular quality assurance reviews, and published free from political interference. To achieve this, the National Statistics arrangements include an independent Statistics Commission, a Code of Practice, and mechanisms for consultation with stakeholders.

5. The data on workplace injuries for 2001/02 are the first being collected by electronic means at the ICC. RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) notifications can now be submitted by telephone, the web, fax and email, as well as by post. HSE recognised during the implementation of the ICC that additional quality assurance work would be needed with a system new to employers and new for processing RIDDOR notifications. The extra work is necessary to ensure HSE's key statistical outputs meet the standards of National Statistics - the Government's code of practice on production and release of official statistics. The quality assurance work is taking longer than anticipated because of the complex issues that the ICC is expected to deal with. HSE and the ICC are developing a programme of improvements for specific areas of data collection. However, this has led to a delay in the release of 2001/02 provisional non-fatal injury statistics. These will be released on 10 December. Fatality records are subject to special quality assurance arrangements and are unaffected by the ICC. The 2001/02 fatal figures were released in July 2002.

6. Figures for England, Scotland and Wales:

England 2000/2001 Fatal: 18 employees, 17 members of the public (MoP)
Non-fatal: 28,048 employees, 4733 MoP 1999/2000 Fatal: 9 employees, 18 MoP
Non-fatal: 28,980 employees, 6,766 MoP Scotland 2000/2001 Fatal: 0
Non-fatal: 1,650 employees, 308 MoP 1999/2000 Fatal: 2 employees
Non-fatal: 1,757 employees, 427 MoP Wales 2000/2001 Fatal: 4 MoP
Non-fatal: 1,135 employees, 274 MoP 1999/2000 Fatal: 1 employee
Non-fatal: 1,246 employees, 374 MoP

Public Enquiries

: Call HSE's InfoLine, tel: 0845 345 0055, visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact, or write to: HSE Information Services, Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG.

Press Enquiries relating to this Press Release: Journalists only

: Philip Gibson 020 7717 6219.

NB: HSC/E officials are happy to answer questions on the contents of the publication issued today, but cannot provide detailed information on individual LAs. Such information should be sought from relevant LA(s).

Inspection, Enforcement and Injury data by county and country,
as reported to local authorities, 2000/2001.

Inspection and Enforcement data Reported injuries County Total premises¹ FTE¹ Visits per 1000 premises¹ Formal Notices per 1000 premises¹ LAE1
Response
rate Workers Members of public Former County of Avon 28 654 20.2 170 5 100% 617 76 Bedfordshire (inc. Luton UA) 7 254 10.5 114 12 75% 255 41 Former County of Berkshire 11 353 9.7 190 6 100% 576 82 Buckinghamshire (inc. Milton Keynes UA) 10 198 8.6 177 9 100% 558 73 Cambridgeshire (inc. Peterborough UA) 10 560 9.4 173 3 83% 512 53 Cheshire (inc. Halton & Warrington UA's) 14 954 14.4 293 9 88% 804 130 Former County of Cleveland 5 652 9.9 242 12 100% 189 61 Cornwall 15 311 14.2 290 6 86% 186 66 Cumbria 9 218 5.3 188 5 83% 202 67 Derbyshire (inc. City of Derby UA) 17 053 16.4 177 5 78% 268 60 Devon (inc. Plymouth & Torbay UA's) 23 437 20.3 257 2 100% 541 203 Dorset (inc. Bournemouth & Poole UA's) 15 122 10.8 195 2 100% 309 79 Durham (inc. Darlington UA) 7 063 9.3 435 6 88% 185 36 East Sussex (inc. Brighton & Hove UA) 19 546 15.3 223 2 100% 252 61 Essex (inc. Southend & Thurrock UA's) 24 331 23.7 290 4 93% 728 133 Gloucestershire 9 289 9.9 225 3 100% 306 62 Hampshire (inc. Portsmouth & Southampton UA's) 25 192 27.6 228 6 100% 918 163 Herefordshire UA 3 528 2.0 188 16 100% 105 15 Hertfordshire 16 618 14.4 244 3 100% 810 110 Former County of Humberside 16 069 18.8 227 7 100% 356 54 Isle of Wight 2 642 2.7 122 12 100% 42 17 Kent (inc. The Medway Towns UA) 25 701 21.9 309 3 92% 1 117 173 Lancashire (inc. Blackburn & Blackpool UA's) 31 287 28.0 264 4 100% 543 118 Leicestershire (inc. City of Leicester & Rutland UA's) 15 941 22.6 215 10 89% 550 71 Lincolnshire 11 012 12.5 356 5 86% 362 178 Norfolk 14 882 16.6 290 6 100% 451 93 North Yorkshire (inc. York UA) 13 320 9.8 208 1 88% 395 77 Northamptonshire 8 024 9.9 363 10 86% 597 39 Northumberland 3 465 3.0 122 6 83% 94 19 Nottinghamshire (inc. City of Nottingham UA) 8 084 12.3 281 7 88% 590 116 Oxfordshire 11 742 7.8 227 3 100% 374 30 Shropshire (inc. Telford & Wrekin UA) 7 178 8.0 149 2 100% 215 53 Somerset 11 861 11.6 150 4 100% 256 42 Staffordshire (incl.Stoke-on-Trent UA) 17 414 23.0 352 10 89% 606 88 Suffolk 12 896 15.5 150 4 86% 208 37 Surrey 15 896 14.11 203 6 82% 515 66 Warwickshire 9 835 9.2 270 5 100% 398 43 West Sussex 12 679 11.7 216 2 100% 357 105 Wiltshire (incl. Swindon UA) 11 953 14.9 109 3 100% 500 78 Worcestershire 8.463 9.2 319 6 100% 321 50 Greater Manchester 53 511 58.1 234 9 100% 2 155 223 Merseyside 21 786 20.7 325 2 80% 600 106 South Yorkshire 16 807 13.0 193 2 75% 746 124 Tyne and Wear 21 724 19.5 305 5 100% 547 133 West Midlands 42 919 41.6 272 10 100% 1 452 236 West Yorkshire 43 628 27.5 217 3 100% 1 473 214 Greater London 174 938 108.3 190 3 91% 4 004 596
England² 1 040 000 900.0 246 5 92% 28 145 4 750 Wales² 59 000 60.0 245 4 91% 1 137 278 Scotland² 98 000 110.0 288 6 97% 1 652 308 Total²
(Great Britain) 1 197 000 1070 0 251 5 93% 30 934 5 336

¹ Inspection and enforcement data by county reflects returns received from LAs within the county. No estimates are made for LAs that did not return data in 2000/01.

² Inspection and enforcement data for England, Wales, Scotland and Great Britain are estimates based on the returns received in 2000/01.

Published on the HSE web site on 20 November 2002

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