Work-related injuries and ill health in construction - Injuries

Construction has the largest number of fatal injuries compared to other main industry groups. In 2008/09, 29.4% of all fatal injuries were in the construction industry. There were 53 fatal injuries to workers in construction in 2008/09, a 26% decrease on the previous year. Of these 53 fatalities, 33 were employees and 20 were self-employed, compared to 53 and 19 in 2006/07. The rate of fatal injury to workers in construction decreased to 2.5 per 100 000 workers, from 3.4 per 100 000 workers in 2007/08.

The main change this year has been due to a reduction in the rate of fatalities to employees, which reduced from 4.2 per 100,000 in 2007/08 to 2.6 per 100,000 in 2008/9. The rate for the self employed actually increased slightly, from 2.2 per 100,000 in 2007/08 to 2.4 per 100,000 in 2008/09. Overall there has been a downward trend in the rate of fatal injuries to all workers in construction over the period 1999/2000 - 2008/09,

The number of reported major injuries to employees in 2008/09p was 3 286, compared to 3 710 in 2007/08. The corresponding rates of major injury were 254.1 per 100 000 employees in 2008/09p and 291.8 per 100 000 employees in 2007/08.

From 1999/2000 there has been a downward trend in the reported major injury rate in construction, the rate for 2008/9 is 36% lower than in 1999/2000. Despite this reduction, the rate of reported major injury amongst those employed in construction remains the highest of any main industry group.

As with major injuries the rate of reported over-3-day injuries to employees shows a steady decline from 1999/2000. In 2008/09p there were 6 789 reported over-3-day injuries to employees giving a rate of 524.9 per 100 000 employees. This constitutes a 43% reduction since 1999/00.

Based on the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the rate of reportable non-fatal injury in construction was 1 400 per 100 000 workers (1.4%) in 2007/08 (three-year average), statistically significantly higher than the average across all industries (890 per 100 000 workers - 0.89%).

• Injury data

The most common kinds of reported injuries to workers in all industries occur as a result of handling, or slips and trips. These also represent the most common kinds of reported injury within construction. In 2008/09p, handling accounted for 29% of reported injuries to workers, and slips and trips 22%.

Compared to workers across other industries, construction has higher proportions of reported injuries caused by falls from a height (17% of construction injuries compared to 8% across other industries) and moving/falling objects (16% construction, 11% other industries). Contact with moving machinery accidents account for 4% of worker injuries in construction, compared to 3% across other industries. Contact with electricity was 1% for construction compared to 0.3% for other industries and collapses/overturns accounted for 0.5% for construction compared to 0.2% for other industries.

In comparison with other industries a much higher proportion of all reported injuries within construction are serious, i.e. the ratio of fatal and major injuries to over-3-day injuries is higher in construction than most other industries. However, this could partly be due to under-reporting of the less serious injuries within the construction industry. The LFS data indicates a high level of under-reporting, with the LFS central estimate of the rate of non fatal injuries being 1427 compared to the actual rate reported of 880 per 100 000 (2007/08 data).