Health and Safety – Statistics and Insurance

With the current Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a real focus on Health and Safety within businesses that have been able to trade. PPE, Social Distancing and Covid Testing has also become a very regular feature for some.

Whilst we are looking at further spikes with the more transmittable Delta Variant, there is plenty of optimism that we can develop strategies to control and hopefully reduce the long term effects of this disease on our way of life. Rather than focus on the obvious topic we thought for this blog we could look at some of the more general Health and Safety figures for the UK as we have one of the world’s best safety records.

Key figures sourced from the from the HSE Gov website. (2019/2020)

1. Around 1.6 million of working people are suffering work-related or industrial disease / Illness in UK (Non Covid).

2. Although the use of asbestos fibres are outlawed in most modern processes, 2,446 workers have passed away in this period from mesothelioma due to past asbestos exposures (2018 figures). Due to the long tail nature of the claims this continues to a troublesome areas for insurers which will continue for years to come.

3. 111 workers had been killed at work (in work related accidents).

4. According to the Labour Force Survey, around 693,000 of working people had sustained an injury at work.

5. 65,427 serious injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR in a workplace(Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations).

6. There have also been 38.8 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury – imagine how much money the UK economy lost from not being able to work and low productivity.

7. Looking at the 2018/2019 HSE statistics, an estimated £16.2 billion has been put towards the costs of injuries and ill health from working conditions.

These statistics highlight why it is so important to have the correct insurance (and advice) in place in order to prevent or minimize the impact of any potential accident at work.

If you need to speak to a professional advisor on a no obligation basis, please call or email us at Clarke Williams and find out how we can assist you.