Fresh warning after 304 workers seriously injured in Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan and Caerphilly

Date:

30 December 2011

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

Three hundred and four people suffered a major injury while at work in Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan and Caerphilly last year, 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.

There were 192 major injuries recorded in Cardiff this year compared to 218 major injuries in 2009/10. In the Vale of Glamorgan, 49 major injuries were recorded this year compared to 50 in 2009/10; and in Caerphilly 63 major injuries occurred compared to 62 in the previous year. There were no work-related fatalities recorded in Cardiff, the Vale or Caerphilly in 2010/11, compared to one work-related death in the Vale of Glamorgan in 2009/10.

Another 1,051 workers across the three areas suffered an injury or ill health which required them to take at least three days off work in 2010/11, compared to 1,228 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.

Nick O'Connor, Principal Inspector for the HSE in Wales, said:

"These 304 workers in Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan and Caerphilly have had their lives changed forever by a major injury.

"These statistics highlight why we need good health and safety in British workplaces. Employers need to spend their time tackling the real dangers that workers face and stop worrying about trivial risks or doing 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 would urge businesses to focus on helping to 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 Wales 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	2010/11			2009/10
   	Fatal injuries	Major injuries	Over-3-day injuries	Fatal injuries	Major injuries	Over-3-day injuries
   Anglesey	-	26	74	-	34	76
   Blaenau Gwent	-	25	92	-	30	106
   Bridgend	1	58	229	-	88	224
   Caerphilly	-	63	257	-	62	278
   Cardiff	-	192	613	-	218	729
   Carmarthenshire	2	78	209	1	86	280
   Ceredigion (Cardiganshire)	2	22	71	-	26	61
   Conwy	-	45	137	-	46	126
   Denbighshire	1	43	148	1	52	164
   Flintshire	-	87	316	1	83	345
   Gwynedd	-	60	186	-	71	217
   Merthyr Tydfil	-	27	105	-	29	113
   Monmouthshire	1	27	123	-	47	125
   Neath and Port Talbot	-	68	189	-	77	234
   Newport	-	102	315	1	74	332
   Pembrokeshire	-	60	125	-	55	133
   Powys	3	58	161	2	64	200
   Rhondda	1	92	432	-	88	452
   Swansea	-	115	426	-	131	380
   Torfaen	-	33	167	-	29	149
   Vale of Glamorgan	-	49	181	1	50	221
   Wrexham	-	69	188	-	51	206
   Total	11	1,399	4,744	7	1,491	5,151

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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