Fresh warning after two workers killed in Shropshire

Date:

29 December 2011

Release No:

HSE/WM/556/11

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

Two people lost their lives while at work in Shropshire last year and 201 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 201 major injuries in Shropshire compare to one death and 264 major injuries in 2009/10. Another 794 workers suffered an injury or ill health which required them to take at least three days off work in 2010/11, compared to 896 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.

Rosi Edwards, HSE Regional Director in the West Midlands, said:

"The families of the two workers who lost their lives in Shropshire 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 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 the West Midlands region 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
   Herefordshire	Herefordshire UA	-	98	306	1	98	278
   	Total	-	98	306	1	98	278
   Worcestershire	Bromsgrove	-	41	105	-	36	109
   	Malvern Hills	1	26	76	-	39	89
   	Redditch	1	32	115	1	44	123
   	Worcester	-	58	190	-	50	207
   	Wychavon	1	55	186	-	59	186
   	Wyre Forest	-	32	97	-	36	117
   	Total	3	244	769	1	264	831
   Shropshire	Shropshire UA	2	130	449	1	164	509
   	Telford & Wrekin UA	-	71	345	-	89	387
   	Total	2	201	794	1	253	896
   Staffordshire	Cannock Chase	-	37	112	-	26	123
   	East Staffordshire	1	55	233	1	65	278
   	Lichfield	-	43	185	-	56	164
   	Newcastle-under-Lyme	1	44	165	-	44	190
   	South Staffordshire	1	30	133	-	32	108
   	Stafford	-	74	268	-	71	276
   	Staffordshire Moorlands	-	40	128	-	38	109
   	Stoke-on-Trent UA	-	138	440	-	131	446
   	Tamworth	-	26	127	-	32	136
   	Total	3	487	1,791	1	495	1,830
   Warwickshire	North Warwickshire	-	38	286	-	52	343
   	Nuneaton & Bedworth	1	37	136	1	41	146
   	Rugby	-	41	138	-	47	136
   	Stratford on Avon	-	58	131	-	56	134
   	Warwick	-	55	231	-	68	271
   	Total	1	229	922	1	264	1,030
   	Birmingham	1	395	1,828	1	435	1,831
   	Coventry	-	110	510	-	147	542
   	Dudley	1	119	444	-	122	457
   	Sandwell	1	168	562	2	111	647
   	Solihull	-	79	284	-	96	310
   	Walsall	-	111	357	1	90	386
   	Wolverhampton	1	106	337	1	103	395
   	Total	4	1,088	4,322	5	1,104	4,568
   Total across region		13	2,347	8,904	10	2,478	9,433

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
9. A link to the table with a breakdown by industry follows: https://handson.hse.gov.uk/hse/public/tablesimple.aspx?RID5

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR West Midlands