The price of poor practice - latest illness and injury tolls

Health and Safety Bulletin's editor Howard Fidderman analyses the latest illness and injury tolls.

The 12 months to 1 April 2013 saw marked reductions in the numbers and rates of workers who suffered fatal and major injuries at work. It is likely there was a similar improvement in other non-fatal reportable injuries, but a change in reporting criteria - from over-three-day to over-seven-day injuries - prevents an accurate comparison. Regardless of the improvements, the injury figures must be considered against what they exclude - principally most road transport injuries, where fatalities exceed those at the workplace.

Furthermore, the numbers of victims of workplace injuries pale against the toll from work-related illnesses: deaths from diseases, for example, exceed those from injuries by a factor of almost 100. Unfortunately, however, the statistical picture is further limited by the absence of any 2012/13 ill-health data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) main source of data on the extent of work-related ill health (other than on fatal diseases, such as mesothelioma); cuts in the HSE's government grant forced a reduction in the frequency of the collection of ill-health, but not injury, data under the Labour Force Survey, from an annual to a biennial basis after 2011/12, which means there will be no new data available until October 2014.

Illness and disease

The HSE estimates there are at least 13,000 deaths every year from work-related diseases, of which about 8,000 are caused by cancers and 4,000 by chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases - such as bronchitis and emphysema - following exposure to fumes, chemicals and dusts. The cancer figures are based on The burden on occupational cancer in Great Britain, the 2010 overview report on research led by Leslie Rushton, which found that of the 8,010 cancer deaths in 2005, asbestos accounted for 3,909, followed by silica (789), diesel engine exhaust (652), mineral oils (563) and shiftwork (552). As we have noted previously, this is likely to underestimate the true toll.

The new figures for asbestos-related fatalities, which relate to 2011, record 2,291 mesothelioma deaths; although this is a slight decrease on the 2,360 deaths in 2010, the HSE expects the figure to peak at the end of the decade; last year's annual report predicted a peak in 2016. The HSE also believes that the number of lung cancer deaths from asbestos is likely to be similar to those arising from mesothelioma.

Labour Force Survey absences

The HSE bases most of its non-fatal ill-health estimates on the Labour Force Survey, which includes an annual question put to 44,000 households that asks whether or not any residents believe they suffer from any ill health or injury that might be attributable to work. As the question was not asked in respect of ill health in 2012/13, the HSE has merely repeated its Labour Force Survey findings from the previous year. The importance of ill health means we will once again review this data, but Health and Safety Bulletin (HSB) subscribers should remember that this data is for 2011/12. And, as usual, we would caution that the "self-reported" nature of the condition may often reflect the views of the respondents rather than those of medical practitioners (although a proportion of these individuals will obviously have consulted a doctor). The report therefore provides "central estimates" that lie at around 95% confidence levels (in this article, we use only the central estimates for simplicity).

The HSE estimates that 1.8 million people were suffering from an illness in 2011/12 that they believed was caused or exacerbated by their past or current jobs. There is no statistically significant variation from the 2010/11 total, meaning the five- and 10-year trends remained downwards.

Table 1 looks at illness among people who had worked in 2011/12 during the previous 12 months; this shows an estimated 1,073,000 (of the 1.8 million) claimed they were suffering from an illness in 2011/12 that was caused or exacerbated by work, which was 75,000 fewer than in the previous year. Of these 1,073,000:

  • 452,000 people were "new cases" who had developed the illness within the previous 12 months, which was 43,000 fewer than in 2010/11;
  • 80% of the new conditions were either musculoskeletal disorders (141,000) or stress, depression or anxiety ("stress") (221,000) - in the four previous years, the percentages hovered around 75%;
  • although the number of new musculoskeletal disorders fell for the third consecutive year (from 191,000 in 2008/09), the number of stress cases fluctuated over the same period and was only 8,000 fewer than in 2008/09;
  • the decreases in new cases are more marked over a 10-year period, with musculoskeletal disorders having fallen from 216,000 in 2001/02 and stress from 254,000; and
  • the overall trend for new and existing conditions among people who had worked over the previous 12 months has been downwards since 2006/07, falling from 1,384,000 to 1,073,000. About two-thirds of this improvement, however, has been among musculoskeletal disorders, which enjoyed in 2011/12 a second large consecutive annual fall, while stress cases increased by 28,000 over the same period.

"New" ill-health figures

Aside from those on mesothelioma, the main "new" figures on occupational ill health and disease arise from reporting schemes involving general practitioners (GPs) and specialist doctors. A surveillance scheme involving 300 GPs (THOR-GP), which has been running since 2005, indicates the rate of new cases of work-related ill health was 1,306 per 100,000 workers in 2012, with musculoskeletal disorders the most common type of condition and mental health giving rise to the greatest number of days lost. Compared with the Labour Force Survey data, THOR-GP shows a lower rate of stress and of all ill health, regardless of cause, but a higher rate of musculoskeletal disorders.

A skin specialists' scheme - EPIDERM - reported 1,550 new cases of skin disease in 2012, three-quarters of which involved contact dermatitis. The overall total has dropped by one-third over the past 10 years, although skin cancer incidence remained static. There has also been a 50% drop in the number of asthma cases reported to chest physicians over the same period, to 177 new cases in 2012.

The number of new recipients of industrial injuries disablement benefit - which covers "prescribed" diseases - has now stabilised at pre-2009 levels and patterns, with 4,305 cases involving lung diseases and 2,360 cases of non-lung diseases in 2012. The introduction to the prescribed list in 2009 of osteoarthritis of the knee in miners and carpet/floor fitters resulted in an additional 7,600 cases in 2009 and 23,555 in 2010, but the total fell to 1,075 in 2012. The other largest categories in 2012 were vibration white finger (635), carpal tunnel syndrome (295) and occupational deafness (125). There have been falls of at least 50% in asthma, dermatitis and deafness cases over the past 10 years.

Injuries

The number of workers (employees and self-employed) killed at work in an accident fell to 148 in 2012/13, from 171 in 2011/12. As with all injury statistics collected under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), which were replaced on 1 October by RIDDOR 2013, the totals are provisional and are likely to increase slightly by the time the figures are finalised next year.

Table 2 shows the total of 148 is the second lowest on record, just one more than the 147 in 2009/10. It is also the fifth time the total has dropped in the past six years. The rate of fatally injured workers fell to 0.5 per 100,000 workers, from 0.6 per 100,000 the previous year, and also from an average of 0.6 over the previous five years. The rate is now around half the rate of the mid-1990s. The HSE believes that: "When the 2012/13 data [are] added to the time series, the latest five years indicates a levelling-off, with no overall trend." The "change indicators" for worker fatalities since 2001/02 and 2006/07 are both downwards, however.

Employees' progress

The number of employees killed at work dipped under 100 for the first time - albeit that the 99 deaths in 2012/13 are likely to rise once the total is finalised next year. The employee rate fell to 0.4 per 100,000 employees in 2012/13 from 0.5 the previous year, although it has ranged between 0.4 and 0.5 for the past five years, compared with a range of 0.7 to 0.9 over the previous 12 years. Although the total of 49 self-employed workers killed in 2012/13 is lower than the previous year's 57, the number has fluctuated over the years. The rate of 1.1 is more encouraging, however, and is the second lowest on record.

The overall improvement in worker fatality totals between 1995/96 and 2012/13 is, however, solely attributable to reductions in the employee toll: while the self-employed fatality total was 49 in both these years, the number of employees killed more than halved from 209 to 99 over the same period. Furthermore, although the self-employed fatality rate has lowered over this period from 1.5 to 1.1, the numbers of self-employed deaths in nine of the past 10 years were actually equal to, or higher than, the 1995/96 total.

As we have noted in previous years, the changes in the fatal injury totals, while obviously important because they involve real lives, are not statistically significant indicators of any trend because the numbers are (relatively) too small and are highly susceptible to chance variations. For these reasons, we look to non-fatal injury statistics (because there are many more).

Under-reporting non-fatal injuries

There are two types of reportable non-fatal injuries: "major" injuries, which tend to be the more serious; and "over-seven-day" injuries, which are those that result in the victim taking eight or more days off work. Over-seven-day injuries replaced the longstanding category of over-three-day injuries on 1 April 2012, which means comparisons with previous years in this category are not possible. While we can make comparisons for major injuries, this too will no longer be possible next year as major injuries were replaced by "specified" injuries (and new definitions) on 1 October 2014. This situation will be further complicated by the fact that the reporting year runs to 1 April, so next year's report will include six months of major injuries and six months of specified injuries.

As in previous years, we confine our analysis of non-fatal injuries to employees rather than workers because of high levels of under-reporting of such injuries by self-employed people under RIDDOR. Last year, we noted data from the Labour Force Survey indicated RIDDOR reporting levels for non-fatal injuries in 2011/12 rose to 56% for employees; the previous five years saw the rate fluctuate between 48% and 53%. Intriguingly, the HSE's 2013 report notes that for 2012/13, "early indications suggest that the reporting level of non-fatal injuries to employees recorded under the new RIDDOR requirement (majors and over-seven-days' incapacitation) has now fallen below half". It had been expected over-seven-day reporting would increase the rate of reporting, the HSE told HSB: "Work is currently ongoing to pull together all available evidence on this issue to try to produce a coherent explanation of the change. One potential explanation is that the reporting level for major injuries is lower than that for over-three-day and over-seven-day injuries. Under the new RIDDOR requirement this will have more of an impact (with fewer injuries), reducing the overall reporting level."

While the latest report does not specify reporting levels for self-employed people, the HSE acknowledged in its 2011/12 report that the proportion of reported injuries for self-employed workers was "much smaller"; the tables supporting the report showed the level in fact fell to just 6% in 2011/12, against rates of between 4% and 9% in the previous five years. The overall reporting rate for workers was 44%, with a range of between 39% and 46% over the previous five years.

Major injuries

There were 78,222 reported non-fatal injuries (major and over-seven-day) to employees in 2012/13, at a rate of 311.6 per 100,000 employees. The HSE's change indicators since 2006/07 and 2001/02 are both downwards, although there is no indicator since last year because of the reporting changes.

Table 2 shows the number of major injuries to employees fell to 19,707 in 2012/13, from 22,094 in 2011/12, while the rate of major injuries fell to 78.5 from 88.5. The total has now fallen for nine consecutive years, and the rate for eight; both are now at their lowest levels since 1996/97, which is the first directly comparable year after changes in definitions were made in 1995/96. (Although some earlier years saw lower totals and rates, this was due to different definitions and under-reporting, and not because the overall injury toll was lower. For this reason, this feature does not look beyond 1996/97.)

Until 2009/10, when the annual toll of major injuries dropped below 27,000 for the first time, the figures had remained stubbornly in the 28,000 to 30,000 range, albeit decreasing gradually since 2003/04, so the marked decreases over the past four years are encouraging. The fall in the major injury rate is the second highest on record - behind only that of last year - and means the rate has now fallen by 21.5% in the past two years.

Over-seven-day injuries

There were 58,515 over-seven-day injuries to employees in 2012/13, following 89,205 over-three-day injuries in 2011/12, with respective rates of 233.1 and 357.4 per 100,000 employees. The HSE has "modelled" the effect of the change in reporting requirement and concluded: "Analysis indicates that the over-three-day injury rate would have continued to follow the longer-term downward trend observed over recent years." (Furthermore, the finalised number and rate of over-three-day injuries in 2011/12 were both the lowest on record.)

The HSE estimates the change to over-seven-day injuries resulted in the loss of 29% of injuries (confidence interval of between 19% and 39%) that would have been reportable as over-three-day injuries. HSB's calculations show that there have been 34.4% fewer injuries between the two years, which would suggest, crudely, there has been a "real" reduction of 5.4%, which is in line with the HSE's trend analysis.

Seven-day significance

While employer reports under RIDDOR are the main source of detailed information on non-fatal injuries, the HSE uses self-reporting by workers under the injury module of the Labour Force Survey to inform a wider picture and also to calculate reporting levels under RIDDOR. Columns 2 to 4 of table 3 show the HSE's estimates from the Labour Force Survey of the numbers of people who claimed they had been off work with a work-related injury in the previous 12 months. The table groups the cases by length of absence: fewer than four days; between four and seven days; and over seven days. As with the Labour Force Survey ill-health statistics, the injury figures are central estimates within 95% confidence levels.

Column 6 of table 3, which is a HSB calculation, shows that the overall number of cases that resulted in absence of any length rose to 646,000 in 2012/13 from 591,000 in 2011/12. The rise brings to an end six consecutive annual improvements at an average decrease of 6% per year. Regardless of the overall total, HSB's analysis shows the proportions that the three different durations comprise are remarkably consistent:

  • column 2 shows that injuries resulting in fewer than four days' absence (which would not be reportable unless defined as major) accounted for between 63% and 68% of the total number of injuries in each of the past eight years (64.2% in 2012/13 and 64.1% in 2011/12);
  • column 3 shows that four to seven days' absence accounted for 9% or 10% of the total in six of the past eight years and for 8% in the other two years (8.7% in 2012/13 and 9.5% in 2011/12); and
  • column 4 shows that eight or more days' absence accounted for between 23% and 27% of the total number of injuries in each of the past eight years (27.1% in 2012/13 and 26.4% in 2011/12).

The differences between the Labour Force Survey totals of over-three-day and over-seven-day injury absence are also important because, as we noted above, 2012/13 is the first year in which dutyholders were required to report over-seven-day injuries. Column 3 (four to seven days' absence) therefore indicates the number of injuries that would previously have been reportable (with the caveat that some would still be reportable as major injuries). This shows that 56,000 injuries that would have been reportable as over-three-day injuries were no longer reportable as over-seven-day injuries (ie 24.2% fewer reported non-fatal injuries). HSB's calculations indicate the percentages would have been 26.4% in 2011/12 and 25% in 2010/11, and between 27% and 29% in the five preceding years, These proportions are broadly consistent with the HSE's own estimate that the change resulted in 29% fewer reportable injuries in 2012/13.

Sectorial comparisions

As we have noted in our two previous annual reviews of the injury and ill-health statistics, comparisons by sector are complicated by the HSE's use for the first time in 2010/11 of a new system for classifying industries - SIC 2007 (Standard Industrial Classification 2007) - with reports for earlier years using a previous SIC. Particularly noteworthy among the numerous differences between the two SICs is that the 2007 classification added to the five main industrial sectors used thitherto (agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing; extractive and utility supply industries; manufacturing; construction; and services) a sixth sector covering "water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities" ("waste" for the purposes of this feature). To facilitate historical comparison, the HSE recalculated and reallocated the totals of the three categories of injury for the six sectors back to 2001/02 and then further revised some of these calculations in subsequent reports and tables. Accurate sectoral comparisons cannot therefore be made before 2001/02.

The change to SIC 2007 also affected the injury rates - not just because of the reallocation of injuries between sectors but also because the HSE changed its sources for calculating the working populations in each sector from 2004/05 onwards. Unfortunately, the HSE is only able to recalculate comparable rates back to 2004/05. For these reasons, we will confine the analysis of trends for non-fatal injury totals to 2001/02 to 2012/13, and for rates from 2004/05 to 2012/13 (see table 4).

Fatal sectors

The 148 fatal injuries to workers in 2012/13 were spread across the six main sectors as follows: services (46); construction (39); agriculture (29); manufacturing (20); waste (10); and extractive industries (4). In terms of the numbers of employee fatalities (see table 4):

  • services (32 deaths), construction (27) and manufacturing (18) accounted for most deaths in 2012/13. Although these also topped the fatal sector list in 2011/12, construction has regained second position from manufacturing, having exceeded manufacturing every year since 2002/03 with the exception of 2011/12;
  • the totals fell between 2011/12 and 2012/13 in every sector except for waste, where it more than doubled, and a small increase in construction; and
  • there were decreases in the numbers of deaths in all six sectors between 2001/02 and 2012/13 (although table 4 goes back only to 2002/03, HSB has figures for previous years).

In terms of the rates of employee fatalities:

  • agriculture (5.7 per 100,000 employees) was again by far the highest, although it had fallen from 8.7 in 2011/12, and was followed by waste and construction;
  • there were increases in the rates for 2012/13 from 2011/12 in waste (to 4.4 from 1.9) and construction (to 2.2 from 1.9), but decreases in the other sectors except for services, where the rate remained stable; and
  • between 2004/05 and 2012/13, there were decreases in the rates in all sectors except for in the extractive industry.

Non-fatal injuries by sector

In terms of the numbers of non-fatal major injuries to employees (see table 4):

  • services accounted for 67% of injuries in 2012/13 (13,271 of 19,707), followed by manufacturing (3,229) and construction (1,913);
  • most of the improvement over the past two years came in the same three industries, with a large increase in injuries in the extractive industries and small decreases in agriculture and waste; and
  • between 2001/02 and 2012/13, the number of major injuries rose significantly in the waste industry but dropped markedly in the other five sectors.

In terms of the rates of non-fatal major injuries to employees:

  • waste had the highest rate at 294.3 per 100,000 employees, followed by agriculture at 239.4 and construction at 156;
  • there were decreases in the rates in agriculture, manufacturing, construction and services, but increases in extractive industries and waste; and
  • between 2004/05 and 2012/13, there were improvements in the rates in all sectors except for waste, where there was a small increase.

With 2012/13 being the first year of over-seven-day injuries, we are unable to make any sectoral comparisons. It is worth noting, however, that services (42,004) and manufacturing (10,484) accounted for 90% of all reported over-seven-day injuries, and that the highest rates were in the waste (932.3 per 100,000 employees), manufacturing (401.2) and agriculture (324.3) sectors. These patterns are the same as those for over-three-day injuries in earlier years.

The author: Howard Fidderman is a freelance journalist and editor of HSB.

Table 1: Cases of self-reported work-related illness for people working in the previous 12 months (central estimates)

2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12
New cases of work-related illness in the last 12 months (thousands)
Musculoskeletal disorders 230 178 191 190 158 141
Stress, depression or anxiety 242 236 229 233 211 221
All illnesses 612 552 549 554 495 452
Total number of cases of work-related illness in the last 12 months (thousands)
Musculoskeletal disorders 642 539 536 572 508 439
Stress, depression or anxiety 455 441 414 435 400 428
All illnesses 1,384 1,260 1,179 1,265 1,152 1,073
Source: HSE (adapted).

Table 2: Injuries reported to enforcing authorities

Fatalities Major
injuries
Over-three-day
injuries5
Total Rate1 Total Rate1 Total Rate1
Employees
1995/96 209 1.0 -2 -2 -2 -2
1996/97 207 0.9 27,964 127.5 127,286 580.1
1997/98 212 0.9 29,187 127.6 134,789 589.2
1998/99 188 0.8 28,368 121.7 132,295 567.3
1999/2000 162 0.7 28,652 116.6 135,381 550.9
2000/01 213 0.9 27,524 110.2 134,105 536.9
2001/02 206 0.8 28,011 110.3 129,655 510.7
2002/03 183 0.7 28,113 110.5 128,184 504.0
2003/04 168 0.7 30,689 120.1 131,017 512.9
2004/053 172 0.7 30,451 123.6 121,779 494.4
2005/063 164 0.7 28,914 116.5 119,045 479.7
2006/073 191 0.8 28,544 113.5 114,653 455.8
2007/083 178 0.7 28,199 111.1 110,054 433.8
2008/093 127 0.5 27,894 109.4 105,261 412.7
2009/103 104 0.4 26,268 104.9 96,427 385.2
2010/11 122 0.5 24,944 100.0 91,742 367.8
2011/12 114 0.5 22,094 88.5 89,205 357.4
2012/134 99 0.4 19,707 78.5 58,5155 233.15
Self-employed
1995/96 49 1.5 -2 -2 -2 -2
1996/97 80 2.3 1,356 38.4 2,282 64.6
1997/98 62 1.8 815 23.3 984 28.1
1998/99 65 1.9 685 20.2 849 25.2
1999/00 58 1.7 663 19.7 732 21.8
2000/01 79 2.4 630 19.2 715 21.8
2001/02 45 1.3 929 27.8 917 27.5
2002/03 44 1.3 1,079 32.3 951 28.4
2003/04 68 1.8 1,283 33.9 1,114 29.5
2004/05 51 1.4 1,251 33.8 1,143 30.9
2005/06 53 1.4 1,303 34.3 1,223 32.2
2006/07 56 1.4 1,194 30.1 1,146 28.9
2007/08 55 1.4 1,190 29.5 1,121 27.8
2008/09 52 1.3 1,106 27.6 931 23.2
2009/10 43 1.0 1,048 25.5 911 22.2
2010/11 53 1.3 1,109 26.4 997 23.7
2011/12 57 1.3 1,080 25.0 1,156 26.8
2012/134 49 1.1 976 21.8 7,195 16.05
Workers (employees and self-employed)
1995/96 258 1.0 -2 -2 -2 -2
1996/97 287 1.1 29,320 115.1 129,568 508.7
1997/98 274 1.0 30,002 113.8 135,773 514.8
1998/99 253 0.9 29,053 108.8 133,144 498.8
1999/00 220 0.8 29,315 104.9 136,113 487.3
2000/01 292 1.0 28,154 99.6 134,820 477.1
2001/02 251 0.9 28,940 101.2 130,572 456.7
2002/03 227 0.8 29,192 101.9 129,135 450.7
2003/04 236 0.8 31,972 109.3 132,131 451.5
2004/053 223 0.8 31,702 107.1 122,922 415.2
2005/063 217 0.7 30,217 100.7 120,268 400.8
2006/073 247 0.8 29,738 98.4 115,799 383.2
2007/083 233 0.8 29,389 96.2 111,175 363.9
2008/093 179 0.6 29,000 95.2 106,192 348.5
2009/103 147 0.5 27,316 93.7 97,338 334.0
2010/11 175 0.6 26,053 89.4 92,739 318.2
2011/12 171 0.6 23,174 79.2 90,361 308.7
2012/134 148 0.5 20,683 69.9 59,2345 200.25
1. Per 100,000 employees, self-employed or workers (employees and self-employed).
2. Figures pre-1996/97 are not comparable due to changes in Regulations and definitions.
3. Some of the rates for injuries between 2004/05 and 2009/10 are different from those
given in HSBs before no.415. This is because the HSE recalculated the rates in 2011,
following a change in the sources it uses to determine employment numbers,
and made further minor adjustments in 2012.
4. Provisional figures.
5. The total for 2012/13 is for the new category of "over-seven-day" injuries,
which replaced "over-three-day" injuries on 1 April 2012.
Source: Compiled from HSE (2013), "Annual statistics report for Great Britain",
supporting tables and previous HSBs.

Table 3: Self-reported injuries, by length of absence

(1) Number of cases (1,000s)
(2) <4 days (3) 4-7 days (4) >7 days (5) =4 days (6) All cases
2005/06 545 83 223 306 851
2006/07 576 73 201 274 850
2007/08 517 81 217 298 815
2008/09 478 72 174 246 724
2009/10 491 66 164 230 721
2010/11 403 50 150 200 603
2011/12 379 56 156 212 591
2012/13 415 56 175 231 646

Source: HSE (columns 1-4). Columns 5 and 6 are HSB calculations:
column 5 is the total of columns 3 and 4; column 6 is the total of columns 2, 3 and 4.

Table 4: Reported injuries, by industry

Year Agri-
culture1
Ext-
ractive1
Waste1 Manu-
facturing1
Con-
struction1
Services1 All
Employees - fatalities
Total 2002/03 15 3 7 41 56 61 183
2003/04 6 9 6 22 52 73 168
2004/05 13 2 12 40 55 50 172
2005/06 10 5 11 36 43 59 164
2006/07 13 10 11 34 54 69 191
2007/08 22 8 10 28 53 57 178
2008/09 9 6 7 29 32 44 127
2009/10 14 6 4 22 29 29 104
2010/11 11 3 11 25 33 39 122
2011/12 13 10 4 27 25 35 114
2012/132 9 4 9 18 27 32 99
Rate3 2002/03 6.8 1.6 - 1.2 5.0 0.3 0.7
2003/04 2.5 5.1 - 0.8 4.6 0.4 0.7
2004/05 9.3 1.0 7.0 1.2 3.6 0.3 0.7
2005/06 6.8 2.3 6.2 1.1 2.8 0.3 0.7
2006/07 8.7 4.6 5.5 1.1 3.3 0.4 0.8
2007/08 13.8 3.2 5.0 0.9 3.3 0.3 0.7
2008/09 5.1 2.3 3.4 0.9 1.9 0.2 0.5
2009/10 9.4 2.4 2.0 0.9 2.0 0.1 0.4
2010/11 6.9 1.2 5.8 1.0 2.5 0.2 0.5
2011/12 8.7 3.7 1.9 1.0 1.9 0.2 0.5
2012/132 5.7 1.5 4.4 0.7 2.2 0.2 0.4
Employees - non-fatal major injuries
Total 2002/03 537 349 446 6,568 4,040 16,173 28,113
2003/04 433 302 458 6,186 3,997 19,313 30,689
2004/05 446 334 490 5,923 3,797 19,461 30,451
2005/06 410 313 461 5,230 3,725 18,775 28,914
2006/07 369 318 473 4,959 3,742 18,683 28,544
2007/08 405 319 592 4,944 3,727 18,212 28,199
2008/09 425 289 638 4,306 3,318 18,918 27,894
2009/10 458 265 608 3,870 2,601 18,466 26,268
2010/11 354 244 711 3,741 2,307 17,587 24,944
2011/12 376 223 614 3,514 2,124 15,243 22,094
2012/132 375 311 608 3,229 1,913 13,271 19,707
Rate3 2002/03 244.2 225.7 - 196.5 359.3 80.0 110.5
2003/04 206.9 228.2 - 196.5 349.8 93.8 120.1
2004/05 281.4 162.9 283.8 173.4 251.8 102.4 123.6
2005/06 277.8 147.3 259.2 158.8 242.7 97.3 116.5
2006/07 247.2 145.6 238.2 153.4 231.8 95.5 113.5
2007/08 254.2 129.5 294.2 153.3 231.5 92.2 111.1
2008/09 240.1 111.8 312.5 140.9 200.1 94.8 109.4
2009/10 307.3 107.0 303.2 150.5 180.9 91.5 104.9
2010/11 222.7 99.5 376.2 143.9 173.8 87.2 100.0
2011/12 250.3 83.1 288.0 135.8 163.7 75.5 88.5
2012/132 239.4 116.1 294.3 123.6 156.0 65.3 78.5
Employees - over-three-day injuries 2002/03 - 2011/12; over-seven-day injuries 2012/13
Total 2002/03 1,143 1,429 2,022 32,813 8,992 81,785 128,184
2003/04 742 1,324 2,017 29,595 8,322 89,017 131,017
2004/05 701 1,099 1,913 25,914 7,632 84,520 121,779
2005/06 648 939 1,886 23,703 7,625 84,244 119,045
2006/07 617 1,041 1,835 21,387 7,219 82,554 114,653
2007/08 712 1,004 2,574 20,240 7,533 77,991 110,054
2008/09 718 910 2,456 17,396 6,860 76,921 105,261
2009/10 725 710 2,380 14,720 5,712 72,180 96,427
2010/11 594 628 2,516 13,779 4,813 69,412 91,742
2011/12 734 625 2,658 14,633 5,014 65,541 89,205
2012/132, 4 5,084 4,604 1,9264 10,4844 3,1334 42,0044 58,5154
Rate3 2002/03 550.3 987.4 - 972.9 797.9 405.0 504.0
2003/04 405.1 1,035.9 - 930.1 726.0 433.4 512.9
2004/05 442.3 536.1 1,108.0 758.7 506.0 444.7 494.4
2005/06 439.0 441.8 1,060.6 719.6 496.9 436.7 479.7
2006/07 413.4 476.6 923.9 661.6 447.1 421.9 455.8
2007/08 446.8 407.5 1,279.4 627.7 467.9 394.9 433.8
2008/09 405.6 352.2 1,202.8 559.2 413.6 385.3 412.7
2009/10 486.4 286.8 1,186.7 572.5 397.3 357.7 385.2
2010/11 373.6 256.2 1,331.3 530.2 362.6 344.1 367.8
2011/12 488.7 232.9 1,246.7 565.4 386.4 324.4 357.4
2012/132, 4 324.34 171.74 932.34 401.24 255.44 206.64 233.14

1. The application of SIC 2007 retrospectively to 2001/02 onwards led to some
reallocations of injuries between sectors.
2. Provisional figures.
3. Rate per 100,000 employees. The HSE recalculated the rates in 2011 following a
change in the sources it uses to determine employment numbers.
4. The totals and rates for 2012/13 are for the new category of "over-seven-day" injuries,
which replaced "over-three-day" injuries on 1 April 2012.

Source: Compiled from HSE (2013), "Annual statistics report for Great Britain",
supporting tables and previous HSBs.