Fresh warning after 17 workers killed in Greater London

Date:

30 December 2011

Release No:

HSE/COILON

Statistics available for local authority areas (See Notes to editors)

Seventeen people lost their lives while at work in Greater London last year and 2,480 suffered a major injury, according to the latest statistics.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a fresh warning about workplace safety after the number of deaths rose across Great Britain in 2010/11. It is urging employers to make the safety of workers their top priority for 2012, and is reminding them of their legal responsibility to ensure lives are not put at risk.

A total of 171 people were killed at work in Great Britain last year, compared to 147 deaths during 2009/10. More than 24,700 workers also suffered a major injury in 2010/11.

The 17 deaths and 2,480 major injuries in London compare to 9 deaths and 2,630 major injuries in 2009/10. Another 11,101 workers suffered an injury or ill health which required them to take at least three days off work in 2010/11, compared to 11,676 in 2009/10.

The latest provisional figures show that, on average, six in every million workers were killed while at work between April 2010 and March 2011.

High-risk industries include construction which had 50 deaths last year, agriculture with 34 deaths, and waste and recycling with nine deaths, making up more than half of all workplace deaths in Great Britain during 2010/11.

HSE's Mike Gibb, Principal Inspector in Greater London, said:

"The families of the 17 workers in Greater London who lost their lives last year had to face Christmas without them. Hundreds of other workers have had their lives changed forever by a major injury.

"These statistics highlight why we need good health and safety in British workplaces. Employers should spend their time tackling the real dangers that workers face rather than worrying about trivial risks or pointless paperwork.

"It's important to remember that we still have one of the lowest rates of workplace deaths in Europe, but one death is still one too many. I'd urge businesses to help cut the number of deaths in 2012."

Information on tackling health and safety dangers in workplaces is available on HSE's website at www.hse.gov.uk.

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. The following table lists the numbers of deaths and injuries across Greater London during 2010/11 and 2009/10. Three-day injuries are injuries where workers had to take three or more days off work to recover.
   
   

   County	Local Authority Area	2010/11			2009/10
   		Deaths	Major injuries	'3-day' injuries	Deaths	Major injuries	'3-day' injuries
   Greater London	Barking & Dagenham London Borough of	-	44	219	-	51	256
   	Barnet London Borough of	1	60	263	1	89	307
   	Bexley London Borough of	-	43	232	-	52	225
   	Brent London Borough of	1	65	331	-	66	374
   	Bromley London Borough of	2	73	317	-	64	294
   	Camden London Borough of	-	139	468	-	125	492
   	Croydon London Borough of	1	68	343	-	77	330
   	Ealing London Borough of	-	67	418	-	84	405
   	Enfield London Borough of	-	85	368	-	88	396
   	Greenwich London Borough of	-	64	293	-	75	329
   	Hackney London Borough of	-	42	194	-	57	196
   	Hammersmith & Fulham London Borough of	2	64	284	-	72	251
   	Haringey London Borough of	-	43	213	1	45	220
   	Harrow London Borough of	-	33	126	-	40	134
   	Havering London Borough of	-	69	228	-	62	283
   	Hillingdon London Borough of	-	146	1,044	-	159	1,149
   	Hounslow London Borough of	1	90	626	1	82	576
   	Islington London Borough of	1	65	315	-	84	369
   	Kensington & Chelsea The Royal Borough of	-	94	329	-	105	335
   	Kingston Upon Thames Royal Borough of	-	42	142	-	46	158
   	Lambeth London Borough of	-	71	346	-	76	362
   	Lewisham London Borough of	1	51	248	-	71	251
   	London Corporation of the City of	-	119	385	-	111	400
   	Merton London Borough of	1	57	183	-	50	189
   	Newham London Borough of	1	101	341	1	88	356
   	Redbridge London Borough of	-	46	193	1	73	208
   	Richmond-upon-Thames London Borough of	-	48	150	-	49	163
   	Southwark London Borough of	2	79	384	-	104	440
   	Sutton London Borough of	-	46	180	-	42	194
   	Tower Hamlets London Borough of	-	83	348	1	86	411
   	Waltham Forest London Borough of	1	55	233	1	55	211
   	Wandsworth Borough Council	-	59	333	2	56	360
   	Westminster City of	2	269	1,024	-	246	1,052
   Total		17	2,480	11,101	9	2,630	11,676

3. A list of the deaths reported to HSE during 2010/11 is available at www.hse.gov.uk/foi/fatalities/2010-11.htm. The information is updated on a monthly basis, and does not purport to be a formal statistical release. Subsequent investigation may determine that some are not reportable as workplace deaths, for example deaths due to natural causes.
4. Further information on workplace statistics can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics.
5. Based on available data (2007), Britain has the lowest rate of fatal injuries to workers among the five leading industrial nations in Europe - Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
6. The reporting of health and safety incidents at work is a statutory requirement, set out under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). A reportable incident includes: a death or major injury; any accident which does not result in major injury, but the injured person still has to take three or more days off their normal work to recover; a work related disease; a member of the public being injured as a result of work related activity and taken to hospital for treatment; or a dangerous occurrence, which does not result in a serious injury, but could have done.
7. The figures for 2010/11 are provisional. They will be finalised in June 2012 following any necessary adjustments arising from investigations, in which new facts can emerge about whether the accident was work-related. The delay of a year in finalising the figures allows for such matters to be fully resolved in the light of formal interviews with all relevant witnesses, forensic investigation and coroners' rulings.
8. This year is the first year HSE has adopted the revised SIC 2007 classification codes More information is available on HSE Website http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/developments/news/sic2007.htm

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