A report recently released by HSE (Health and Safety Executive), has revealed that a total of 123 workers were killed at work in Great Britain between April 2021 and March 2022. Being struck by a moving vehicle is still one of the most common causes of fatal injuries in the workplace. This shows that improvements to operator and driver training are still needed to improve safety in many operations.
Although the overall workplace fatality figure is lower than the previous year, it is in line with pre-pandemic figures. These encouragingly showed a downward trend in the rate of fatal injuries to workers.
Other common causes of fatal injuries continue to be falling from height and being struck by a moving object. The industries with the highest numbers of deaths were construction (30), agriculture, forestry and fishing (22), and manufacturing (22).
A further 80 members of the public were killed following a work-related accident in 2021/22. This is an increase on the previous year but below the pre-pandemic level. This is likely to reflect the various COVID-19 restrictions in place.
HSE’s Chief Executive Sarah Albon said: “While Great Britain is one of the safest countries in the world to work, today’s figures show we must continue to ensure safety remains a priority. Every loss of life is a tragedy, and we are committed to making workplaces safer and holding employers to account for their actions, as part of our mission to protect people and places.”
The release of the annual figures coincides with the 50th anniversary this month of the publication of the Robens report. The landmark report led to the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974, which ultimately led to the HSE being set up the following year.
RTITB is committed to helping further reduce incidents involving moving vehicles and to keeping people safe by improving workplace transport training standards. This includes services such as RTITB Accreditation for organisations delivering operator training, a range of effective eLearning solutions, and its Driver CPC Consortium for the Periodic Training of LGV/HGV drivers.
For more information, visit www.rtitb.com.