In-year RIDDOR analysis - Quarter 1 2008/09

This data is a snap shot from the live database held at the Incident Contact Centre, HSE’s point of contact for receiving workplace incident reports. Its purpose is to provide an early indication of the latest trends in accidents to employees reported under RIDDOR. The figures are unvalidated and relate to injury reports enforced by HSE’s Field Operations Directorate and local authorities (approximately 95% of the total). Only national figures are available and these do not include fatalities. Whilst trends in these series will closely match figures published in the annual statistics release there will be small revisions to individual numbers, particularly the latest quarter which will be revised upwards due to late reports. This series should not be used to measure progress against PSA or other targets. Judgement of performance against targets requires analysis from a number of sources including the Labour Force Survey.

Quarterly data series by industry and kind of accident [61KB]

Major injuries

Between 2006/07 and 2007/08 major injuries to employees fell by 2.7%. Seasonally adjusted data for the first quarter of 2008/09 shows an increase of 2% (Q4 to Q1). Generally, the latest quarters figures are revised upwards due to late reports. Hence, we can reasonably expect the final figure to be a larger increase. (Table 1)
Over the latest full year (06/07 to 07/08), all main accident kinds saw reductions in major injuries. For slips and trips, the fall was only 0.4% which is consistent with the flat trend seen in this series over recent years. (Table 1)
Between 2006/07 and 2007/08, there was little change in the number of major injuries in manufacturing, construction and transport. Figures in retail, wholesale and hospitality fell by 3.4%. Major injuries in public services appear to have fallen substantially but this is due to a coding change (see note below). In the latest quarter, seasonally adjusted data shows large increases in construction (+4.9%), public services (3.4%) and retail, wholesale & hospitality (2.8%). All these industries usually see large seasonal falls in quarter 1 which didn’t occur to the same extent this year. (Table 3)
The rate of major injury fell by 4.1% between 2006/07 and 2007/08 with a substantial fall in manufacturing (excluding Food) which was down 11.9%. Seasonally adjusted data shows an increase of 1.8% in the major injury rate in the latest quarter. (Table 5)

Figure 1: Major injuries - All kinds. Seasonally adjusted

All non-fatal injuries (major and over-3-day injuries combined)

Between 2006/07 and 2007/08 non-fatal injuries fell by 4.9%. The latest quarterly change shows a seasonally adjusted rise of 3%. As with the major injuries, we can expect this to be revised upwards next quarter. (Table 2)
All the main accident kinds show falls over the latest year. (Table 2)
Between 2006/07 and 2007/08 there have been falls in both the number and rate of non-fatal injury in all main industries with the exception of construction. The construction sector saw an increase of 3.5% in the rate of non-fatal injury over the year. (Tables 4 & 6)

Figure 2: Non fatal injuries - All Kinds. Seasonally adjusted

Recent trends

Major and over 3 day injuries have been on a downward trend since 2004/05. Recent movements in major injury suggest reductions may be slowing down.
All main accident kinds with the exception of slips & trips show downward movement since 2004/05, particularly in the all non-fatal injury series.
All main industries, with the exception of public services, are showing a downward trend in the rate of both major and non-fatal injury since 2004/05. However, the bulk of the reduction in major injuries was in the first year of the PSA period. The trend in major injuries in public services is at best flat with some evidence of growth since 2005/06.

Figure 3: Quarterly changes (%) seasonally adjusted - All kinds

Important Supporting Notes

Data for public services: There is a discontinuity in the public services series at Q1 2007/08 due to a change in the way council workers are coded. Between 2003/04 and 2007/08 these workers were generally coded to SIC 75 (public admin) but are now coded to the activity they are engaged in, for example education, social care, refuse collection etc.
Slips, trips and falls: From Q1 2008/09, slips and trips down steps and stairs are recorded as Falls rather than Slips and Trips. This has led to a discontinuity in both series with the falls series increasing by approximately 50% and the slips series reducing by approximately 10%.
Seasonal adjustment: Seasonal adjustment is the process of removing known and regular variations associated with the time of the year. The data are adjusted so that seasonal effects do not mislead the user and to give a clearer indication of underlying trend. Each year, when the quarter 1 data are published, the seasonal factors are reviewed and the data remodelled to give the most up-to-date picture of seasonality. As a result of this review, small revisions are made to the seasonally adjusted back-series. The latest review, in Q1 2008/09, led to revisions back to Q1 2005/06.

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