Annual Workplace Fatalities 2016/17 (E, S, W)
137 people (a rate of 0.43 per 100,000 workers) were killed in work-related incidents across Great Britain between April 2016 and March 2017, one more than 136 recorded in 2013/14, which remains the lowest annual total on record.
The 2013 record was followed by 142 fatalities in 2014/15 and 147 in 2015/6, so last year marked a resumption of the long term downward trend that has seen fatal accidents at work reduce by more than 50% over the past 20 years.
In addition to annual workplace fatality figures, HSE also revealed that mesothelioma – a cancer contracted through past exposure to cancer – killed 2,542 people in GB in 2015 compared with 2,519 in 2014. The figures reflect widespread exposure before 1980 and annual deaths are expected to start reducing in the next decade.
Other headline figures from ‘Fatal injuries arising from accidents at work in Great Britain 2017’ include
- 30 fatal injuries to construction workers – the lowest number ever for construction but still the most in any sector in 2016/17
- 27 fatal injuries to agricultural workers, which is around 18 times as high as the all industry rate and the highest of all sector rates
- 14 fatal injuries in the waste and recycling sector, 15 times the all industry rate and including 5 fatalities in a single incident at Hawkeswood Metal Recycling Ltd, Birmingham
- 92 members of the public in GB were fatally injured in work-connected accidents in 2015
- fatal injuries to workers aged 60 and over accounted for around 25% of the total, though the age group accounted for just 10% of the workforce