(30/10/2009)

Workplace Accidents Have Fallen in Britain in the Last Year

The number of workplace accidents in Britain dropped to an all-time low in 2009.

That’s according to figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) this week.

The number of workplace accidents classified as serious (ie; requiring more than three days’ off work to recuperate) fell by over 7000 this year.

Around 29.3million working days were lost to injury and ill health across England, Scotland and Wales, which is the equivalent of 1.24 days per worker. This figure compares favourably to the previous year’s 33.9million days.

When compared with international statistics, these figures show that Britain is one of the safest places to work in the EU.

Judith Hackitt, chair of HSE, said: "It is really encouraging to see these improvements in the numbers of deaths, injuries and cases of ill health at work over the past year. Protecting people from harm caused by work remains important irrespective of the economic climate.

Having shown that Great Britain can achieve a performance that compares favourably with other industrialised nations as we entered the global recession, the challenge now is to maintain that improvement as we move towards recovery and increased activity in some economic sectors.”

Major injuries at work have fallen since 2000 and this trend continued last year with 28,692 workers reported as being injured in 2008/09, compared with 29,389 in the previous year.

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