Sectors lose 4.4m days due to illness and injuries, statistics show

The construction and education sectors are losing out on 4.4 million working days due to workplace injury and illness, acording to statitics from the Health and Safety Executive.

The data shows that about 4% of workers in both those sectors suffer from an illness they believe to be work-related – like musculoskeletal disorders.

Furthermore, 2% of workers in the education sector and 3% of workers in the construction sector have sustained a work-related injury – with almost half of these in the education sector categorised as a slip, trip or fall.

These statistics result in 2.2 million working days lost in each sector due to work-related illnesses and injuries in the construction and education sectors, making the annual average for the two sectors in 2013/14-2015/16 a total of 4.4 million working days lost.

With 30.4 million working days lost overall due to work-related illness and workplace injury in 2015/16, this means the construction and education sectors account for almost 15% of this.

Gary Ellis from CE Safety believes that certain placeholders can improve these statistics over time: “It goes without saying that health and safety in the workplace, particularly in industries such as construction and education, should be at the forefront of employers’ minds. In high risk working environments, processes can be put in place to avoid and prevent employees being injured or becoming ill.

“Simple things such as knowing when expiry dates on health and safety course are due for renewal, or ensuring the right number of first aiders and fire marshals are on site on a daily basis.

“There is more to health and safety than being legally compliant – preventing your employees from becoming ill or injured ultimately saves employers a lot of money in the long run.”

The team at CE Safety has over 20 years’ experience in the health and safety industry, and currently provide training courses in fire safety, first aid, health and safety and manual handling.

Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders

In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.

Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.

Listen now!