Fresh warning after 15 Scottish workers killed

Date:

29 December 2011

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

Fifteen people lost their lives while at work in Scotland last year and 2,645 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 15 deaths and 2,645 major injuries across Scotland compare to 22 deaths and 2,655 major injuries in 2009/10. Another 7,598 workers suffered an injury or ill health which required them to take at least three days off work in 2010/11, compared to 8,137 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.

Dr Paul Stollard, HSE Director in Scotland, said:

"The families of the 15 workers in Scotland 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 Scotland during 2010/11 and 2009/10. Three-day injuries are injuries where workers had to take three or more days off work to recover.
   
   

   Local Authority area	2010/11p			2009/10
   	Fatal injuries	Major injuries	3-day injuries	Fatal injuries	Major injuries	3-day injuries
   Aberdeen City	-	203	514	2	193	521
   Aberdeenshire	4	107	284	-	112	287
   Angus	1	42	109	-	44	116
   Argyll & Bute	1	48	129	3	68	130
   Clackmannanshire	-	22	50	-	23	48
   Dumfries and Galloway	2	99	234	2	90	278
   Dundee City	-	80	262	-	94	290
   East Ayrshire	1	58	151	1	44	188
   East Dunbartonshire	-	20	62	-	18	86
   East Lothian	-	29	90	1	27	112
   East Renfrewshire	-	20	54	-	18	67
   Edinburgh City	-	214	756	1	223	706
   Falkirk	-	70	324	-	79	325
   Fife	1	196	455	3	141	468
   Glasgow	-	358	1,135	1	357	1,181
   Highland	1	99	221	3	109	291
   Inverclyde	-	32	105	-	40	90
   Midlothian	-	33	98	-	42	106
   Moray	-	56	106	1	51	127
   North Ayrshire	-	52	125	-	53	173
   North Lanarkshire	-	155	475	-	135	486
   Orkney Islands	1	12	26	-	11	26
   Perth & Kinross	1	90	194	1	83	211
   Renfrewshire	-	98	248	-	103	324
   Scottish Borders	1	48	144	-	65	128
   Shetland Islands	-	11	40	1	14	43
   South Ayrshire	-	59	173	-	83	185
   South Lanarkshire	-	128	395	-	129	459
   Stirling	-	64	182	1	58	182
   West Dunbartonshire	-	39	95	-	44	114
   West Lothian	1	91	337	1	93	363
   Western Isles	-	12	25	-	11	26
   Total	15	2,645	7,598	22	2,655	8,137

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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