Finance and Corporate Support

Environmental Health

HEALTH AND SAFETY - FACT FILE

1. Every working day in Britain, at least one person is killed doing their job.
   
2. The single most common cause of death is Falling From a Height.
   
3. Every year more than 2.2 million people suffer from ill health caused or made worse by their work.
   
4. 13 million working days are lost annually due to work related ill health.
   
5. The most common cause of injuries at work is the slip or trip.
   
6. 4% of all cancer deaths may have a work-related cause.
   
7. Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common causes of ill health in industry.
   
8. Some 66,000 people have a skin disease caused by their work.
   
9. Asbestos is the largest single cause of fatal disease and ill health caused by work in the UK.
   
10. Every year, about 70 people are killed in accidents involving vehicles in the workplace.
    
11. About 1,500 new cases of work-related asthma occur annually.
    
12. In the 10 years from 1993 to 2003 35 children have been killed on farms.
    
13. The overall cost of work accidents and work-related ill health to employers is estimated to be between £4,000 million and £9,000 million a year.
    
14. Men are three times more likely to have an accident than women and 10 times more likely to have a fatal accident.
    
15. There are around 36,000 people with an advanced stage of Vibration White Finger (VWF), the most well known form of hand-arm vibration syndrome
    
16. VWF is also one of the most common reasons for occupational ill-health claims made against employers.
    
17. If you work in manufacturing, the risk of being killed in a small workplace is double that of being in a large workplace.
    
18. Each year there are over 600 non-fatal major injuries to employees resulting from acts of physical violence at work.
    
19. The British rate of workplace fatal injury for all industries combined is lower than in other EU member states and lower than the USA.
    
20. Up to half a million people in Britain suffer from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, with teachers and nurses tending to suffer most
    
21. Carbon monoxide from gas appliances kills an average of 30 people a year.
    
22. Musculo-skeletal disorders are the most common form of work-related ill health in Britain.
    
23. In 2004/05 there were 72 fatalities in the construction industry; this is a drop from over 90 in the 1990's.