Report puts work deaths still at four a week

Provisional figures for work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) last month revealed that 228 workers were killed at work in 2007-08, 19 fewer than the year before.

The report showed an increase in the number of workers killed in the agriculture sector (from 36 in 2006-07 to 39 in 2007-08) and a fall in the construction sector (from 79 to 72).

The UCATT building union said the figures made “grim reading” and “should serve as a wake up call to the construction industry and the HSE”.

General secretary Alan Ritchie said: “It is quite clear that the HSE should be taking a far more rigorous approach to inspections, enforcement and prosecutions. The HSE’s laissez faire attitude and belief in self-regulation has been an abject failure.”

Last month the HSE organised an inspection blitz on building sites on Merseyside, and issued enforcement notices for breaches of safety law to 13 out of 15 sites.

The figures and a breakdown can be found on HSE’s website at: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm