New Statistics Reveal 28 People Died At Work Between April and June

Workplace injury lawyers are calling on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to ensure that it maintains a focus on reducing fatalities at work, after new figures from the organisation suggested the number of such incidents may be declining.

New provisional figures have revealed that 28 people were killed at work between April and June this year, with the number marking a decrease from the quarterly average of 43 recorded across 2011/12.

The most workplace deaths over the first three months of 2012/13 were seen in the construction industry (9), the sector which also saw the most fatalities over the previous 12 months.

Irwin Mitchell’s team of workplace injury experts specialise in helping the families of people killed in accidents at work to gain justice, as well as providing support to victims left with life-changing injuries as a result of such incidents.

David Urpeth, national head of workplace injuries, said that the apparent drop seen in fatalities was a positive step in the right direction but warned that the work on this issue should not stop here.

He explained: “All workers should be able to go to jobs safe in the knowledge that they will be able to return home safely at the end of their day’s work. Sadly, these statistics and our own experiences in this area have highlighted that there are instances when this simply does not happen.

“While it is very welcome to see that current figures are below the quarterly average from last year, any death is always one too many and plenty remains to be done to ensure the safety message continues to be promoted across all industries.

“We would urge employers across all sectors to ensure they are offering their workers the training, support and equipment they need to carry out their tasks safe from any harm. It is also vital that employers themselves ensure that any risks are properly assessed and high safety standards are being enforced in their workplaces.

“The fall in deaths is a good sign, but the job now is to ensure that this continues across the rest of the year.”

Commenting specifically on the construction sector, David added: “It is unsurprising to see the building industry dominated in terms of deaths, as it is traditionally an area where this is the case. That doesn’t make it acceptable.

“We would urge construction firms and contractors to do everything in their power to guarantee that health and safety is a fundamental priority in the workplace, as well as to ensure that lessons are learned from the deaths seen already this year so that standards of safety can be improved in the coming months.”