The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have just released its annual summary statistics of workplace injuries and ill health covering the period April 2022 to March 2023.
The statistics reveal continuing high levels of both workplace ill health and workplace stress, anxiety and depression with a rising annual cost to the economy estimated at over £20 billion. In this article, we summarise the main headlines and provide insight on the main causes.
Summary headlines
· 1.8 million workers suffering from work-related ill health (new or longstanding cases).
· 875,000 existing and new cases of workplace stress, anxiety and depression.
· 561,000 workers suffering a workplace non-fatal injury.
· 473,00 workers suffering from a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) - almost identical to that seen in 2021/2022 (477,000 cases).
· 12,000 lung disease deaths linked to past occupational exposure which includes 2,268 deaths due to mesothelioma (2021).
· 60,645 injuries reported under RIDDOR.
· A total of 35.2 million working days lost due to workplace ill health and injury with a total estimated cost to the economy of £20.7 billion.
· 135 workplace fatalities, though deaths linked to both Covid-19 and lung disease are excluded.
Cost to the economy
The annual cost of workplace injuries and new cases of work-related ill health (excluding long latency diseases/conditions such as cancer), amounts to an estimated £20.7 billion of which 37% is attributable to workplace injury and 63% to ill health. In relation to the overall cost, £3.9 billion is borne by employers, £4.9 billion by the Government and £12.2 billion by individuals.
The annual cost of workplace injury alone stands at £7.7 billion.
Enforcement
Whilst not set out in its annual summary statistics of workplace injuries and ill health covering the period April 2022 to March 2023, the HSE has published data relating to enforcement action taken by it in 2022/23, the headlines of which are:
· It investigated over 230 fatal and 5,500 non-fatal accidents;
· It completed 216 criminal prosecutions with an overall conviction success rate of 94%;
· It delivered over 16,800 proactive inspections.
What this tells us is that the HSE’s appetite for enforcement action, including starting criminal proceedings, remains high and is a key indicator of its overall performance. Duty-holders will be held to account and should be prepared to respond if challenged over workplace health and safety.
Conclusions
This year’s summary statistics show broadly an unchanged picture compared to the previous year in relation to both workplace stress, anxiety and depression and wider work-related ill health. The cost to individuals, employers and the Government continues to rise and now stands at £20.7 billion compared to £18 billion seen in 2021/2022.
What is clear however from data releases seen from both the Claims Portal Company and the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU), is that the high levels of workplace ill health are not translating into claims.
Notifications for employers’ liability claims have reduced by a third compared to the pre-pandemic position in the context of a depressed personal injury market.
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