Work injury compensation claim news -
01/07/2009

Workplace fatalities at record low

Deaths caused by work accidents have reached a record low in the UK with 180 fatalities recorded over the past year compared to 233 in the previous 12 months.

Trade unions have warned against complacency although the improving figures, issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), are the lowest since records began in 1974.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said, "Every death is one too many and can be avoided."

He said the figures for deaths caused by accidents in the workplace were not indicative that employers were becoming more health and safety conscious.

"Falls in injury and death rates are usual during a recession because fewer new employees are being recruited," he said.

There has been an average of 231 deaths over the past five years compared to the 180 recorded over the year 2008-2009.

Judith Hackitt, HSE chairman, said, "We can take heart from the fact that Great Britain consistently has fewer fatal injuries than comparable industrialised nations in the rest of Europe."

However, while there is a downward trend in the rate of fatal injuries as a result of work accidents, the year-on-year improvement is levelling off and becoming less marked.