10 Work-Related Deaths in West Midlands last year

The Birmingham Post small business news page reports that the Health & Safety Executive have released new figures showing a slight fall in work - related deaths in the West Midlands in the year to 31 March 2010 from the previous year figure of 11, but they are calling for more to be done to reduce them further.

The 10 deaths from last year compares to an average of 22 work-related deaths in the region over the last 5 years.

Across Britain, the number of people killed at work has fallen to a record low of 151 in 2009/10 which is a decrease of 15 per cent from the previous year figure of 178 which was itself a record low figure.

Steve Flanagan, HM Principal Inspector at the Health and Safety Executive in the West Midlands is reported to have said:

“While it's heartening to see a reduction in the number of work-related deaths in the West Midlands, it's simply not good enough that 10 people failed to come home from work to their families last year. Many of these unnecessary deaths could have been avoided if simple and sensible precautions had been in place, and if workers had been involved in dealing with the risks they face”. “For the sake of those workers who have lost their lives, HSE will continue to take an uncompromising approach to safety.”

Theses new figures show that compared to the latest data available for the four other leading industrial nations in Europe – Germany, France, Spain and Italy – Great Britain has, for more than the last six years, had the lowest rate of fatal injuries.

The opinion from the team at C&D is that we must all devote more time to Health & Safety and to changing the mindset of directors and workers alike to further reduce death and injury in the UK. A trained workforce is a safer workforce and we would encourage you to take stock of your training needs and look at our list of courses to see how you can deal with those needs.