HSE urges more safety after 12 workers killed in West Midlands
Jun 25 2009 by Graeme Brown, Birmingham Post
Companies have been warned to put their workers’ safety first, despite new figures showing the number of people killed at work in the West Midlands has almost halved.
Data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) showed there were 12 fatal injuries reported in the region in 2008-09, compared with 22 in the previous year.
Over the past five years there have been, on average, 23 deaths as a result of workplace accidents in the region.
But the region’s top health and safety official, Steve Flanagan, acting head of operations, said many of the deaths could have been prevented by simple and sensible precautions.
He said: “The fact that 12 people failed to come home from work in the West Midlands last year because of avoidable safety failings is a terrible tragedy.
“There are families throughout the region who have been cruelly robbed of a loved one in incidents that in many cases were entirely preventable. We owe it to them and to the workers who have lost their lives to continue to put safety first.
“This is all the more important given the economic problems facing the West Midlands region. We know from evidence of past downturns that when the period of economic recovery comes it generally sees an increase in the rate and number of workers losing their lives.
“I don’t want to be talking in 12 months’ time about a tragic rise in the number of our workers who have been killed simply doing their job.”
Across the UK there were 180 deaths in the year to March, down from 233 the previous year and the lowest since records began in 1974.
There were big reductions in some of the most dangerous industries, including agriculture, down from 46 fatal injuries to 26 over the year, and construction, down from 72 to 53.
Judith Hackitt, chairman of the HSE, welcomed the figures, although she acknowledged that workplace fatalities were likely to fall in an economic downturn.
“There is inevitably variation in the figures year on year, but we can take heart from the fact that Great Britain consistently has fewer fatal injuries than comparable industrialised nations in the rest of Europe,” she said.
“This statistical snapshot needs careful analysis to help us to understand underlying factors, including the impact of the recession.”
Nattasha Freeman, president of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, said: “Health and safety is not about five-page guides on using Pritt Sticks, or requiring goggles when putting up Blu-Tack or playing conkers.
“Health and safety professionals’ efforts are focused on preventing the toll of death and serious injury at work, at stopping the things that cause the loss of life reported in these statistics.”
