2007/2008 Statistics from the HSE

Tuesday, 2nd December 2008

The most recent statistics from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) indicate that an estimated 5.1 million days were lost due to work related ill-health or injury within the health and social work industry in 2007/08. This gives an estimated rate of 1.9 days lost per worker, higher than the rate of all industries.

• Musculoskeletal disorders and stress accounts for over half of these injuries;
• The survey of self reported work-related illness carried out in 2007/08 estimated that 178,000 people whose current or most recent job in the last year was in the health and social work sector suffered from an illness which was caused or made worse by their job;
• There have been 16 fatal injuries in the health and social work industries since 1999/2000-2007/2008;
• Across all industries there were 27,976 major injuries to employees reported in 2007/2008. There were 108,795 other injuries (non-major) to employees causing absence from work for over 3 days. Around two fifths were caused by handling, lifting or carrying;
• In 2008, handling harmful substances , prolonged sitting and manual handling were the most commonly reported hazards by British employees;
• Musculoskeletal disorders, slipping and tripping and stress were the most commonly reported health and safety risks by British employers.

The results for over three day injuries to all Employees in the Health Services Sector by kind of accident 2007/2008 (HSE) are as follows:

• Manual Handling 41%
• Slips/Falls 25%
• Acts of Violence 17%
• Other 17%