Working days lost down by a quarter

Citation

(2007), "Working days lost down by a quarter", Structural Survey, Vol. 25 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ss.2007.11025aab.008

Working days lost down by a quarter

Keywords: Health and safety, Statistics

Statistics recently published by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) reveal that the number of working days lost in Great Britain due to work-related injury and ill health fell from 40 million in 2000/2002 to 30 million working days in 2005/2006. The figures show the latest progress against ten-year targets to improve national health and safety performance by 2010. Progress to reduce ill health by 20 per cent is on track to meet the target, and reducing working days lost by 30 per cent is probably also on track. Fatal and major injuries also fell in 2005/2006, though progress is not presently on track to meet the reduction target of ten per cent. Ill health accounted for around 24 million working days lost. Stress and musculoskeletal disorders were by far the most common causes of absence, making up around three quarters of this figure. Reported non-fatal major injuries to workers fell for the second year in a row to just under 30,000, a drop of six percent on 2004/2005. Agriculture and construction remain the two most hazardous industries, with average rates of self-reported non-fatal injuries to workers over the past three years of 2,020 and 1,790 per 100,000 respectively.