At a time when the HSE is being actively forced by the government to become a commercial entity (even though industry already pays for their services via corporate taxes), with parts of it being privatised and driven into consultancy (e.g. HSE Labs), it is pertinent to look at UK plc’s safety performance over the past 20 years. Occupational incident statistics from 1995/96 to 2013/14 show little statistically significant reductions for the most serious injuries. Using statistical process control techniques on the data obtained from the HSE website, it is evident over the past 20 years that:
Note I am deliberately talking about the numbers of incidents, not incident rates: I am deeply concerned that we have experienced an average of 200 fatalities, 26,600 severe injuries, and 113,000 temporary disabilities per year over the past 20 years. This equates to almost 4 deaths, 512 people being seriously maimed in some way, and 2200 temporary disabilities each and every week. In addition to the substantial costs to industry, the negative economic and psychological impact this has on the families of those killed and injured is also significant[i]: We are potentially talking about families spiralling into poverty and depending on welfare as a result of reduced employment opportunities and/or reduced incomes[ii].
We need to be doing something different. If we keep doing the same things we are going to keep getting the same type of results. The current emphasis on eliminating HSE regulations and forcing the HSE to become a commercial enterprise is not the answer: we still have huge problems to solve that are just too great for that to be a viable strategy. We need a commercial-free HSE to help us find the answers based on hard scientific data, but we are not likely to get one now the wheels have been set in motion. Perhaps the safety profession will now have to seek out its own opportunities to make the difference, without any further reliance on the HSE. Regardless, the safety profession must focus its efforts at reducing these serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs), not just targeting the precursors of minor injuries in the hope that the more serious injuries will also be controlled[iii].
What do you think?
[i] Health and Safety Executive (2006). Identifying and evaluating the social and psychological impact of workplace accidents and ill-health incidents on employees. RESEARCH REPORT 464: HSE Books; Sudbury.
[ii] Mazzolini, G (2013). The economic consequences of accidents at work. Retrieved from https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=res_phd_2013&paper_id=180
[iii] Cooper, M.D. (2014). Identifying, Controlling and Eliminating Serious Injury and Fatalities. In: Heather Beach (Ed). Beyond Compliance: Innovative Leadership in Health and Safety. SHP: Retrieved from: https://www.shponline.co.uk/shp-online-ebook/?cid=searchresult
The bigger picture is often lost. I sometimes work in developing nations in a HSE capacity. It is not lost on me that my wage, if spent locally on anti-malarials certainly would save many lives whereas my presence as a Safety Manager might save lives depending on many variables.
So true. I wonder how many companies data-mine their incident statistics to paint that bigger picture.
Perhaps a middle ground for your travels is to seek donations of anti-malaria tablets from your local medical facilities to take with you. My daughter does that with veterinary medicines, which she donates to animal shelters in the places she visits
The industries that killed and maimed the greatest number of people have mostly gone from the UK economy and landscape, though occasionally we have some very painful reminders of what we left behind with the steel and mining industry continuing to be ‘dangerous’ places to work. The common work activity today that kills and maims the most people in accidents at work, by some margin, is driving. For the furnace and molten steel ingots – substitute HGV’s & LGV’s & delivery vans. For the coal face and mine transport systems – substitute cars, light vans and motorcycles. For the heavy… Read more »
Great addition to the debate. Thank you for pointing out my lapse in paying attention to the issue. Perhaps there is a strong case for the HSE to add these to their Annual Reports as we go forward