Health and Safety Executive Health and Safety Statistics and the SME perspective Kate Sweeney, Chief Statistician

Health and Safety Executive Whole economy overview

Fatal injuries in the workplace Fatalities to workers increased from 147 to 171 in latest year Figures remain consistent with a slight downward trend

Reported non-fatal injury Reported non-fatal injuries continue to decline - down 6% in the last year

Self-reported injuries (LFS) Expect to lose approximately 30k RIDDOR reports in move to over 7-day reporting

New cases of work-related ill health

Mesothelioma deaths and disablement benefit cases

Days lost from work-related injury or illness The majority of the sickness absence relates to ill health (84%) but substantial reductions for both health and safety

SME statistics – some challenges RIDDOR substantially under-reports injuries in the SME sector (and particularly for the self-employed) and workplace size field is poorly recorded Reliance on survey data to give a fair comparison  BUT small sample sizes often prevent detailed exploration

Work-related ill health * 47% of self-reported ill health in small workplaces is MSD and 33% stress (compares with 40% for MSD and 39% stress in larger workplaces)

Rates of work-related MSD

Rate of injury (over 3 day absence)

“Lower risk” occupations Shops Offices Classrooms Mixed industry office workers

Rate of injury (over 3 day absence)

Rate of self-reported ill health

Injury and ill health rates for SMEs by industry sector, 5 year average rates

Health and safety climate

% who received H&S training or information in their current job

Summary Overall improvements in health and safety outcomes over past decade Lower ill health rates in SMEs –Difference is stress Apparent lower injury rates driven by the different mix of occupations in SME sector –No real difference when comparing similar groups No measurable difference in H&S climate in SMEs Workers in SMEs less likely to receive training

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Health and Safety Executive Additional slides

Size breakdown of GB business 85% of workplaces have 10 employees or fewer Small workplaces account for 45% of employees