Fresh warning after two workers killed in Tyne and Wear

Date:

29 December 2011

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

Two people lost their lives while at work in Tyne and Wear last year and 530 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 two deaths and 530 major injuries in Tyne and Wear compare to no deaths and 509 major injuries in 2009/10. Another 1,878 workers suffered an injury or ill health which required them to take at least three days off work in 2010/11, compared to 1,955 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.

Pam Waldron, HSE Head of Operations in the North East, said:

"The families of the two workers in Tyne and Wear 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 the North East 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	2010/11p			2009/10
   		Fatal injuries	Major injuries	3-day injuries	Fatal injuries	Major injuries	3-day injuries
   County Durham	County Durham	2	233	833	2	247	872
   	Darlington	-	63	167	-	73	201
   	Total	2	296	1,000	2	320	1,073
   Northumberland	Northumberland	2	152	400	1	146	471
   	Total	2	152	400	1	146	471
   Tyne and Wear	Gateshead	1	108	381	-	117	392
   	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	-	168	581	-	124	557
   	North Tyneside	-	63	232	-	69	241
   	South Tyneside	-	47	175	-	59	189
   	Sunderland	1	144	509	-	140	576
   	Total	2	530	1,878	-	509	1,955
   Cleveland	Hartlepool	-	51	113	-	59	148
   	Middlesbrough	-	74	208	-	69	205
   	Redcar and Cleveland	-	55	191	-	60	206
   	Stockton-on-Tees	-	77	276	-	94	300
   	Total	-	257	788	-	282	859
   Total		6	1,235	4,066	3	1,257	4,358

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. A breakdown by industry is available at https://handson.hse.gov.uk/hse/public/tablesimple.aspx?RID5
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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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR (North East)