In 2005, the most recent year for which data are available across the European Union:

• The average rate of work-related fatal injury in the European Union, excluding transport accidents, is 2.3 per 100 000 workers. The British rate is 1.4 – the lowest across the EU.
• There were 4 011 work related fatalities in the European Union, of which 1 402 were work-related road traffic and transport accidents.
• In 2005, the highest rates of fatal injury in the European Union and Great Britain were in agriculture, construction, transport, utilities, and the individual industries for the manufacture of mineral products, wood products, basic metals, and  food products.
• The service industries of wholesale and retail trade, financial intermediation and hotels and restaurants have the lowest rates of fatal injury.
• Previous years have followed a similar trend with limited movement between these industries.

Figure 1: Standardised* Incidence Rate of fatal accidents at work in Europe by member state, 2005 (see table 1)

Notes

*The rate for each member state is standardised to a common basis of the European Union mix of employment by industry.

Different member states of the European Union have different methods for collating information relating to fatal injuries at work. For example, some countries include road traffic accidents and commuting accidents (i.e. accidents occurring during journeys to and from a place of work) in their statistics. The statistics shown above exclude such cases, however, there will still be some variation in the criteria used by different countries.

Coverage of accidents in certain member states is not complete for a number of sectors, particularly in relation to the public sector, the fishing industry and the extractive industries; and for self employed persons, employers and family workers.

In 1991 HSE undertook its own analysis of injury statistics of large member states: France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The study adjusted the national injury statistics to bring them to a broadly comparable basis with Great Britain. The study concluded that rates of fatal injury are generally lower in Great Britain than in other large member states.

Over the four years to 2005:

• The rate of fatal injury for the large member states has decreased, as has the EU average rate.
• France decreased by 38%, Spain by 20%, Italy by 16%, Germany by 10% and Great Britain by 7%.
• The EU average rate fell by 15%.

Figure 2: Rates of fatal injury in Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and EU average 2001 – 2005 (see table 5)

Notes

Rates of fatal injury are expressed per 100,000 employees in France, workers in Britain, workers in Italy, and insured workers in Germany.