Good progress on reducing injuries and fatalities at work not matched by progress on work-related harm to health

New figures from the HSE confirm that Britain has Europe’s lowest rate of fatal occupational injuries.

The statistics show that in Britain between April 2009 and March 2010:

• There were 152 workers fatally injured – down from 179 the previous year

• There were 26,061 major injuries, such as amputations and burns, to employees – a rate of 101.5 per 100,000 – compared with 27,894 in 2008/09

• There were 95,369 injuries serious enough to keep people off work for three or more days – a rate of 371.5 per 100,000 – down from 105,261in 2008/09

• An estimated 1.3 million people said they were suffering from an illness caused or made worse by their work, up from 1.2 million in 2008/09

• A further 800,000 former workers claim to still suffer from an illness caused or made worse by work Commenting on the figures, HSE chair Judith Hackitt said:

“It is encouraging to see further reduction in the number of people being killed and seriously injured at work. We now need to ensure that the improvements which are being made continue.

“Britain remains one of the safest places to work in the EU and we are rightly proud of this record. The challenge now is to focus on those areas where improvement is slow to emerge.”