HSE defends efforts to improve worker safety

The document containing provisional figures released by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) for 2006/07, show the sectors have above-average incidents of fatal injuries in the workplace, by comparison with similar industries.

The statistics appear to fly in the face of what the HSC's enforcement body the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said earlier this month when principal inspector Paul Harvey said inspections of around 260 local authorities showed safety was improving (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Harvey maintained today this was still the case because the statistics published last weeks showed fatal injuries only and not the efforts made to reduce non-fatal injuries.

He added: “All the signs are there that things have improved and come early autumn, we expect to issue a full report on the wider waste and recycling industry which will show this.”

Statistics 

The HSC's statistics revealed that 241 employees lost their lives at work across Great Britain last year in a number of industries. Agriculture and construction had the highest rates of fatal injury.

HSC chairman Sir Bill Callaghan said: “These statistics are disappointing and distressing but improvements can still be made. They must be made. HSC/E is taking action. The ball now lies firmly in the industry's court.”

The recycling of waste and scrap metal falls under the manufacturing industry category, where there were 35 fatalities last year – a rate of 1.1 per 100,000 workers.

One of those who died worked in recycling but the report has analysed figures from the last three years which reveals this sector to have the highest fatality rate. It had a rate of 15.1 – based upon eight people suffering fatal injuries – above the manufacturing sector average of 1.3.

Sewage and refuse disposal falls under the services industry category. In 2006/07, there were 85 fatalities – a rate of 0.35 – and there were eight in the sewage and refuse disposal sector. The highest was among those working in the transportation sector, where there were 24 fatal injuries.

Based on 2006/07 as well as previous years statistics, the HSC stated that sewage and refuse disposal has “significantly higher injury rates than average for the sector”, based on figures in recent years.

The HSC report also states that in the service industry being struck by a moving vehicle accounted for 18 deaths in 2006/07, and that this is “generally the most common kind of accident in this sector over the past ten years”.

HSE Chief Executive Geoffrey Podger added to this message saying, “Those who are putting the lives of their workforce at risk should know that HSE takes this very seriously. In the past year we have approved 25% more prosecutions than the year before and our inspectors have served 1000 more enforcement notices. No one should believe that they can get away with serious breaches of health and safety.”