Work-related injuries and ill health in education - Injuries

The number of fatal injuries to workers in education has fluctuated since 1999/2000, with the low number of fatalities offering no discernable trend in the rate of fatal injury. In 2008/09, there was one fatal injury to an employee.

In 2003/04 there was a change to the employer database against which HSE non-fatal injury reports were assigned. This affected the industry category of non-fatal injuries. The change in coding practice affected injury numbers within different industries, but not the corresponding workforce figures and hence injury rates within industries were also affected. The change was particularly marked in the education sector causing an artificial fall in 2003/04. Subsequent adjustments to the employer database from the start of 2007/08 mean only the data series 2003/04 to 2006/07 is affected, for full details see Series break.

Following the changes in coding practice in 2007/08, both the number and rate of reported major injuries to employees increased, the numbers of injuries by 55% and the rate by 54%. Prior to this, the injury rate was relatively stable for the years 2003/04 to 2006/07. In 2008/9p, the major injury rate has risen by 7% from the previous year, from 77.4 to 83.1 per 100,000 employees.

As with major injuries, in 2007/08 both the number and rate of over-3-day injuries to employees increased, by 60% and 59% respectively, due to changes in the categorisation of injuries by industry. Prior to this, between 2003/04 and 2006/07 there appeared to be no real change in the rate. This trend appears to have continued in 2008/09p, with a slight rise in the rate from 204.4 to 213 per 100,000 employees. Compared to other main industry groups, education has one of the lowest rates of reported over-3-day injury.

Based on the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the rate of reportable non-fatal injury in education was 610 per 100 000 workers (0.61%) in 2007/08 (three-year average), statistically significantly lower 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 education. In 2008/09p, slips and trips accounted for 37% of reported injuries to workers, higher than the overall industry proportion of 25%. Handling accounted for 21%, lower than the overall industry proportion of 32%. Compared to other industries, education has a much higher proportion of reported injuries to workers caused by acts of violence (9% education vs. 4% all other industries), and to a lesser extent, harmful substances (3% education vs. 2% all other industries).