Reminder for employers after 22 workers killed in Scotland
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging businesses to focus on their legal responsibility to ensure lives are not put at risk and make the safety of workers their top priority for 2014.
The fresh appeal comes as new figures show that 22 people lost their lives while at work across Scotland in 2012/13 and 1,914 suffered a major injury. This compares to 19 deaths and 2,215 major injuries the previous year.
The latest provisional figures show that the number of deaths across Great Britain has fallen in the last year, with 148 people killed at work, compared to 171 deaths during 2011/12. More than 20,600 workers also suffered a major injury in 2012/13, representing a 10.8 percent drop on the previous year. Five in every million workers were killed while at work between April 2012 and March 2013.
High-risk industries include construction which had 39 deaths last year, agriculture with 29 deaths, manufacturing with 20 deaths and waste and recycling with 10 deaths – making up over two-thirds of all workplace deaths in Great Britain during 2012/13.
Alistair McNab, HSE Head of Operations for Scotland said:
“The families of those workers in Scotland who lost their lives last year had to face Christmas without them and hundreds of other workers have had their lives changed forever by a major injury.
“Whilst the number of workplace deaths and major injuries has decreased nationally, they have increased across Scotland, and it serves as a stark reminder of why we need good health and safety in workplaces. I therefore urge employers to spend their time tackling the real dangers that workers face and stop worrying about trivial matters or pointless paperwork.
“It’s important to remember that while we still have one of the lowest rates of workplace deaths in Europe, one death is still one too many. I would urge businesses to focus on helping to cut the number of deaths in 2014.”
Information on tackling health and safety dangers in workplaces is available on HSE’s website at www.hse.gov.uk[1]
Notes to Editors:
1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk[2]
2. The following table lists the numbers of deaths and injuries to workers across Scotland during 2012/13 and 2011/12.
| Local Authority |
2011-12 Fatalities |
2011-12 major injuries |
2012-13 fatalities |
2012-13 major injuries |
| Aberdeen City of Unitary Authority |
0 |
148 |
0 |
142 |
| Aberdeenshire Unitary Authority |
0 |
94 |
1 |
106 |
| Angus Unitary Authority |
0 |
45 |
2 |
38 |
| Argyll & Bute Unitary Authority |
1 |
49 |
0 |
34 |
| Clackmannanshire Unitary Authority |
0 |
17 |
0 |
21 |
| Dumfries and Galloway Unitary Authority |
0 |
76 |
1 |
53 |
| Dundee City of Unitary Authority |
2 |
53 |
0 |
42 |
| East Ayrshire Unitary Authority |
2 |
55 |
1 |
30 |
| East Dunbartonshire Unitary Authority |
0 |
23 |
1 |
15 |
| East Lothian Unitary Authority |
0 |
28 |
0 |
18 |
| East Renfrewshire Unitary Authority |
0 |
9 |
0 |
18 |
| Edinburgh Council City of |
0 |
188 |
1 |
150 |
| Falkirk Unitary Authority |
1 |
69 |
0 |
46 |
| Fife Unitary Authority |
2 |
121 |
0 |
134 |
| Glasgow City of Unitary Authority |
1 |
331 |
1 |
266 |
| Highland Unitary Authority |
3 |
99 |
4 |
94 |
| Inverclyde Unitary Authority |
0 |
42 |
0 |
26 |
| Midlothian Unitary Authority |
0 |
20 |
0 |
28 |
| Moray Unitary Authority |
0 |
47 |
1 |
36 |
| North Ayrshire Unitary Authority |
0 |
37 |
0 |
39 |
| North Lanarkshire Unitary Authority |
0 |
130 |
1 |
108 |
| Orkney Islands Council |
1 |
11 |
1 |
7 |
| Perth & Kinross Unitary Authority |
0 |
76 |
1 |
68 |
| Renfrewshire Unitary Authority |
1 |
89 |
0 |
58 |
| Scottish Borders Unitary Authority |
1 |
46 |
1 |
48 |
| Shetland Islands Council |
0 |
8 |
0 |
16 |
| South Ayrshire Unitary Authority |
1 |
51 |
0 |
40 |
| South Lanarkshire Unitary Authority |
1 |
99 |
2 |
100 |
| Stirling Unitary Authority |
1 |
39 |
0 |
36 |
| West Dunbartonshire Unitary Authority |
0 |
27 |
0 |
14 |
| West Lothian Unitary Authority |
1 |
98 |
1 |
80 |
| Western Isles Council |
0 |
9 |
2 |
10 |
| SCOTLAND TOTAL |
19 |
2,215 |
22 |
1,914 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| GB TOTAL |
171 |
23,174 |
148 |
20,683 |
3. A list of the deaths reported to HSE during 2012/13 is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/fatalities/2013-14.htm[3] The information is updated on a monthly basis, and does not purport to be a formal statistical release. Subsequent investigation may determine that some are not reportable as workplace deaths, for example deaths due to natural causes.
4. Further information on workplace statistics can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics