Skill Builder Guides & reviews for building and construction
Provisional annual data for work-related fatal accidents in Great Britain’s workplaces has shown a rise in deaths among construction workers.
Forty three construction workers were killed while at work in 2015/2016 – up from 35 in 2014/5.
The construction industry has the highest death rate of all industries. HSE figures show 144 people were killed accross all industries in 2015/2016 with the following break down:
- Forty three workers died in construction, the same as the average for the previous five years.
- In agriculture there were 27 deaths (compared to the five-year average of 32).
- In manufacturing there were 27 deaths (compared to five-year average 22), but this figure includes three incidents that resulted in a total of eight deaths.
- There were six fatal injuries to workers in waste and recycling, compared to the five-year average of seven, but subject to considerable yearly fluctuation.
There were also 103 members of the public fatally injured in accidents connected to work in 2015/16, of which 36 (35 percent) related to incidents occurring on railways.
The HSE has also released the latest available figures on deaths from asbestos-related cancer. Mesothelioma, one of the few work related diseases where deaths can be counted directly, contracted through past exposure to asbestos killed 2,515 in Great Britain in 2014 compared to 2,556 in 2013.
A more detailed assessment of the data will be provided as part of the annual Health and Safety Statistics release in early November. As this draws on HSE’s full range of sources, including changes in non-fatal injuries and health trends.
