The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. Their role is to prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses and enforcement action through Fee For Intervention Charges, Improvement Notices, Prohibition Notices and prosecution through the courts. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise.
One hundred and thirty-five workers were killed in work-related incidents in Great Britain in the last year, according to figures published on 6 July by the Health and Safety Executive.
Between April 2022 and March 2023 the industries with the highest deaths were:
- Construction (45),
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing (21),
- Manufacturing (15),
- Transportation and storage (15).
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing has the highest rate of fatal injury per 100,000 workers of all the main industrial sectors followed by waste and recycling.
The three most common causes of fatal injuries are falls from height (40), being struck by a moving object (29), and being struck by a moving vehicle (20).
The total of 135 worker deaths in 2022/23 is higher than the previous year (123) but is in line with pre-pandemic levels. The figure for 2020/21 was 145.
A further 68 members of the public were killed following a work-related incident in 2022/23. This is a decrease of 20 from last year.
While these figures show Great Britain is one of the safest countries in the world to work, safety must continue to be at the top of everyone’s agenda. HSE’s mission is to protect people and places and HSE remains committed to maintaining safe workplaces and holding employers to account for their actions.”
Northern Ireland
The number of all work-related fatalities in Northern Ireland (2021-22), including those within areas that are the responsibility of both HSENI and local councils, was 19 compared to 13in the last reporting year. The 2022-23 data will be published later in the year.
Asbestos-related deaths
HSE has also published the annual figures for Mesothelioma, a cancer caused by past exposure to asbestos. The figures show 2,268 people died from the disease in 2021. This is a fall of 302 compared with the 2,570 deaths in 2020 and substantially lower than the average of 2,520 deaths per year over the period 2012-2019.