UK is one of safest places to work in EU according to research

According to recently released data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the UK has one of the lowest rates of fatalities at work in Europe.

The provisional figures indicate that fatalities in the workplace occur at a rate of 0.45 per 100,000 employees. During the last two decades, the fatality rates have fallen by more than half, which is proving to be a long term tendency. The number of workers who were fatally injured while working has increased slightly for the year from April 2014 to March 2015, with 142 being involved in a fatal accident, in comparison with 136 in the previous year.

Although the figures have remained relatively low again this year, the Chair of the HSE, Judith Hackitt, stated that all deaths which occur in the workplace are tragic, saying:

“Every fatality is a tragic event and our commitment to preventing loss of life in the workplace remains unaltered. All workplace fatalities drive HSE to develop even more effective interventions to reduce death, injury and ill health.”

The data is broken down into countries and the regions within those countries. The mix of occupations and industries within each region has an influence on the number of fatalities in each country. For instance, Scotland and Wales have more workers in high risk occupations than in England. The HSE intends to continue working to reduce the number of deaths at work, by providing advice and information, promoting regulation changes including the use of special work wear and PPE (personal protective equipment), along with training and enforcement.