The HSE has released its annual figures for work-related fatal injuries for 2018/19
The provisional annual data for work-related fatal injuries revealed that 147 workers were fatally injured between April 2018 and March 2019.
The statistics show that there has been a long-term reduction in the number of fatalities since 1981. Although 2018/19 saw an increase of six workplace fatalities from 2017/18, the number has remained broadly level in recent years.
Sectors
The new figures show how fatal injuries are spread across the different industrial sectors: agriculture, forestry and fishing, and the construction sectors continue to account for the largest share of fatal injuries to workers (32 and 30 deaths respectively in 2018/19).
The figures also indicate those sectors where the risk of fatal injury is greatest: Worst affected sectors are agriculture, forestry and fishing and also waste and recycling, with a rate of fatal injury some 18 times and 17 times as high as the average across all industries respectively (annual average rates for 2014/15-2018/19).
The three most common causes of fatal injuries continue to be:
- workers falling from height (40)
- being struck by a moving vehicle (30)
- being struck by a moving object (16).
These account for nearly 60% of fatal injuries in 2018/19.
The new figures continued to highlight the risks to older workers; 25% of fatal injuries in 2018/19 were to workers aged 60 or over, even though such workers made up only around 10% of the workforce.
In addition, there were also 92 members of the public fatally injured in incidents connected to work in 2018/2019, approximately a third of which took place on railways.
