The UK compares favourably to other European countries in health and safety standards...
| Member state | Fatal injuries at work |
|---|---|
| Cyprus | 4.05 |
| France | 3.10 |
| Latvia | 2.98 |
| Lithuania | 2.92 |
| Luxembourg | 2.83 |
| Romania | 2.63 |
| Greece | 2.55 |
| Croatia | 1.95 |
| Bulgaria | 1.93 |
| Portugal | 1.75 |
| Belgium | 1.70 |
| Spain | 1.51 |
| Czechia | 1.50 |
| Hungary | 1.45 |
| Austria | 1.37 |
| EU-27 average | 1.29 |
| Slovenia | 1.24 |
| Switzerland * | 1.21 |
| Estonia | 1.15 |
| Italy | 1.06 |
| Poland | 1.01 |
| Denmark | 0.95 |
| Slovakia | 0.80 |
| Netherlands | 0.78 |
| Sweden | 0.67 |
| United Kingdom * | 0.62 |
| Malta | 0.59 |
| Finland | 0.57 |
| Germany | 0.56 |
| Ireland | 0.45 |
| Norway * | 0.43 |
(Eurostat, ESAW 2018, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/)
| Member state | Worker non-fatal injuries |
|---|---|
| Switzerland * | 3.6 |
| Finland | 3.2 |
| France | 2.8 |
| Austria | 2.7 |
| Luxembourg | 2.3 |
| Iceland * | 2.2 |
| Portugal | 2.2 |
| Spain | 1.8 |
| Belgium | 1.7 |
| Sweden | 1.6 |
| Czechia | 1.6 |
| EU-27 average | 1.5 |
| Italy | 1.3 |
| Denmark | 1.3 |
| Norway * | 1.2 |
| Cyprus | 1.2 |
| Slovenia | 1.1 |
| Germany | 1.1 |
| United Kingdom * | 1.0 |
| Slovakia | 1.0 |
| Poland | 1.0 |
| Greece | 1.0 |
| Ireland | 0.9 |
| Estonia | 0.9 |
| Netherlands | 0.8 |
| Malta | 0.8 |
| Romania | 0.5 |
| Hungary | 0.5 |
| Lithuania | 0.5 |
| Croatia | 0.5 |
| Bulgaria | 0.5 |
| Latvia | 0.4 |
(Eurostat, EU/UK LFS, 2020, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat)
| Member state | Worker ill health |
|---|---|
| Poland | 12.8 |
| Luxembourg | 8.5 |
| Sweden | 8.0 |
| Austria | 8.0 |
| Iceland * | 7.1 |
| Norway * | 6.9 |
| Switzerland * | 6.2 |
| Belgium | 6.2 |
| France | 5.3 |
| Netherlands | 4.9 |
| Denmark | 4.7 |
| EU-27 | 4.7 |
| Germany | 4.3 |
| Spain | 4.0 |
| Portugal | 3.8 |
| Estonia | 3.8 |
| Slovakia | 3.6 |
| Latvia | 3.3 |
| United Kingdom * | 3.3 |
| Czechia | 3.2 |
| Slovenia | 2.9 |
| Romania | 2.4 |
| Italy | 2.4 |
| Finland | 2.0 |
| Ireland | 2.0 |
| Croatia | 1.8 |
| Hungary | 1.6 |
| Cyprus | 1.6 |
| Lithuania | 1.5 |
| Greece | 1.4 |
| Malta | 1.1 |
| Bulgaria | 1.1 |
(Eurostat, EU/UK LFS, 2020, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/)
More information on comparisons with other countries
Health and safety systems differ across Europe in recording, reporting and enforcement. Thus, the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) publishes data on work-related fatalities, ill health and workplace non-fatal injuries in as standardised a form as possible to account for these differences. Data available from Eurostat shows the UK's historical performance is favourable compared to countries across Europe, with relatively low rates of work-related fatalities, injuries and ill health.
- In 2018, the UK standardised fatality rate of 0.61 per 100,000 workers was amongst the lowest of all European countries and compares favourably with most large economies, such as France, Italy, Spain and Poland. Germany had a lower rate at 0.55 per 100,000 workers
- In 2020, the UK rates2 of non-fatal workplace injuries and work-related ill health, resulting in time off work, compared favourably with many European countries
- Supporting data is also available from surveys conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA). These reveal that most UK workers are confident that their job does not put their health or safety at risk. Additionally, UK businesses are more likely to have a health and safety policy, and to follow this up with formal risk assessment, compared to other European countries
A new international comparisons approach has been developed using regression models to account for differences in workforce size, industry composition, and quantify uncertainty around estimates. This compares rate ratios against the reference country (Great Britain), within-country trends, and the differences in trends between the comparator and reference country.
This approach of comparing rate ratios and trends in work-related fatal injury rates in Great Britain with other countries aligns with HSE’s strategic objective to “maintain Great Britain’s record as one of the safest countries to work in”.
These statistics are deemed Official Statistics in Development. This means that they are undergoing further development and evaluation to improve their quality, methodology, and presentation. The modelling approach used will be kept under review and user feedback is welcomed to inform future releases.
For the full report, see International comparisons of work-related fatal injuries.
For the accompanying technical report, see Technical report: International comparisons of work-related fatal injuries.
For the underlying data used in the models, see Model input data: International comparisons of work-related fatal injuries .
Notes
- The overall GB rate of fatal injuries published by HSE for 2018/19 was 0.46 per 100,000 workers; the standardised rate published by Eurostat accounts for variation in industry composition across European countries.
- For further technical details on the 2020 Labour Force Survey (LFS) figures for the UK, see European Comparisons.
The EU-27 average comparator uses the 27 countries in the European Union (EU) from 2020 onwards and so excludes the United Kingdom. Data for non-EU countries are suffixed with * in charts.