Statistics published this month by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) have shown that the number of working days lost in Great Britain due to work-related injury and ill health fell from 40 million in 2000/02 to 30 million days in 2005/06. These figures emphasise the latest progress against the ten-year targets to improve national health and safety performance by 2010. The aim of reducing ill health by 20% and reducing working days lost by 30% are both currently on target, however even though fatal and major injuries also fell in 2005/06, we are not currently on track to meet the 10% reduction set.
Ill health accounted for around 24 million working days lost, with stress and musculoskeletal disorders by far the most common cause of absence. Reported non-fatal major injuries to workers fell for the second year in a row to just under 30,000, a drop of 6% on 2004/05. Agriculture and construction remain the two most hazardous industries, with average rates of reported injuries over the last three years of 2,020 and 1,790, respectively.
However, the number of enforcement notices issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) decreased by 25% from 2004/05 and the number of prosecutions they had taken fell by 23%. In recent years the HSE has come under fire for this decreasing number, and it was reported last May that health and safety inspections had plummeted and employers were less likely to be inspected, prosecuted or convicted and less likely to receive a safety notice demanding improvements.
