New figures published show drop in fatally injured Scottish workers

Date:

28 June 2011

Release No:

SCO/058/11

New figures released today show the number of people killed at work in Scotland is at an all time low.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has released provisional data for the year April 2010 to March 2011, which shows the number of workers killed was 15 - down from the previous year, when 21 died.

Over the last five years, the average number of workers killed in Scotland each year has been 28.

Paul Stollard, the head of HSE in Scotland, said

"The reduction in numbers for Scotland is encouraging but we must not forget that 15 people failed to come home safe and well from their jobs last year.

"We need to make sure we focus our efforts of tackling the real risks in the workplace and be reminded that there is no room for complacency.

"Lasting improvements in occupational health and safety are driven by management leadership and worker involvement. We all - employers, employees and regulators - have a role to play in reducing the number of deaths and injuries."

The number of workers killed each year in Scotland continues to fall as part of a long term downward trend.

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. Further information on workplace statistics can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics
3. Further information on health and safety in Scotland can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/scotland/
4. In each of the last five years, the number of fatal injuries has been:
   • 2009/10 - 21 workers died
   • 2008/09 - 26 workers died
   • 2007/08 - 31 workers died
   • 2006/07 - 30 workers died
   • 2005/06 - 32 workers died
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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/industry/sic2007.htm

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