Fatal And Major Injuries To Offshore Workers

Provisional statistics relate to offshore incidents reported so far to Offshore Safety Division and may change when final figures are available.

Figure 1: Fatal and major injuries 1996/1997 - 2004/2005p

Figure 2: Combined Fatal and Major Injury Rate 1996/1997 - 2003/04p

Based on provisional figures for 2004/05:

• there were no fatalities this year, compared to three in 2003/2004 and none in 2002/2003;
• there were 48 major injuries reported during the period - which is the same number as last year.
• Due to delays in receiving the results of the Inland Revenue offshore population survey for 2004/05, it has been decided to use a provisional figure of 18,940 workers, which was obtained from an alternative data source[1]
• the combined fatal and major injury rate decreased to 253.4 per 100,000 workers compared to 271.4 in 2003/2004.

Types of accident

Based on provisional figures for 2004/2005p:

• the main cause of major injuries was being struck by moving objects accounting for 13 of the 48 (27% of the total);
• 28 major injuries (58 %) were to the upper limb[2]
• 33 major injuries (69%) were due to fracture.[3]

Over- 3- Day Injuries To Offshore Workers

Figure 3: Over- 3- day injuries 1996/1997 - 2004/2005p

Figure 4: Over-3-day injury rate 1996/1997 - 2004/2005p

Based on provisional figures for 2004/2005:

• the number of reported over-3-day injuries has increased this year by 1 to 104 (0.9%)
• the over-3-day injury rate shows a slight increase on that recorded for 2003/04, 549.1 per 100,000 workers compared to 548.1

Types of accident

Based on provisional figures for 2004/2005:

• the main cause of over-3-day injuries was handling, lifting and carrying accounting for 34 of the 104 total (32.7% of all over-3-day injuries);
• 51 over-3-day injuries (49%) resulted in injury to the upper limbs[4];
• 39 over-3-day injuries (37.5%)were sprains and strains.

Incidence Of Ill Health To Workers Offshore

Based on provisional figures for 2004/2005:

• the total number of cases of offshore ill health reported was 11, a decrease of two on the previous year;
• the most common disease reported was chickenpox of which there were eight such incidents, an increase of two on the number reported for 2003/2004.

Dangerous Occurrences Offshore

Figure 5: Dangerous Occurrences 1996/1997 - 2004/2005p

Based on provisional figures for 2004/2005:

• 551 dangerous occurrences were reported, which is 21 more than during 2003/2004, representing an increase of 3.8%;
• Main types of dangerous occurrences reported were Hydrocarbon releases (44%), fail equipment offshore (21%) fail well (9%) and fire offshore (8%).

A further breakdown of the headline figures contained in this Bulletin will be provided later this year in the annual Offshore Injury and Incident Statistics Report, produced as part of the HID Statistics Report (HSR) series of publications.

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Reference

[1] Provisional data extracted from Vantage system via StepChange in Safety.

[2] Upper limb includes finger/thumbs, hand, wrist and rest of upper limb.

[3] Fractures to fingers, thumbs or toes are classed as over-3-day injuries and not as major injuries.

[4] Upper limb includes finger/thumbs, hand, wrist and rest of upper limb.