Interesting Health and Safety facts

We’ve all heard the tired phrase: ‘health and safety gone mad’ but there’s a fantastic article that walks through most of the seemly ‘insane’ health and safety decisions of all time from the telegraph - complete with a handy ‘madness rating’.

After reading this I started to wonder if these changes had actually had a proven effect on the level of workplace injuries or accidents. Although I couldn’t find statistics on the exact situations the article talks about - carpal tunnel in train guards, serious injury from graduation hat throwing etc., I did manage to find, on the HSE website, a great article which provided a historic review of trends in work related injuries and ill health in Britain, since the introduction of the Health and Safety at work act in 1974.

There were some interesting statistics that prove just how useful ‘health and safety going mad’ has been:

• fatal injuries to employees have fallen by 85% (RIDDOR);
• reported non-fatal injuries have fallen by 77% (to 2011/12) (RIDDOR);
• analysis of non-fatal injuries is complicated by changes in the reporting legislation over recent years
• research commissioned by HSE suggests about half of the reduction in reported non-fatal injuries up to 2011/12 relates to changing employment patterns and occupations
• the rate of self-reported injury showed a downward trend from 2000/01 to 2010/11, since then the rate has remained broadly flat (LFS);
• deaths from asbestos-related diseases have increased almost constantly year-on-year with over 10 times as many deaths in 2014 than in 1974, mainly due to exposure to asbestos prior to 1980 (Mesothelioma and Asbestosis registers) - find more infomation about this in our Asbestos Awareness training;
• the rate of self-reported work-related ill health, and specifically musculoskeletal disorders, showed a generally downward trend from 1990 to around 2011/12, more recently the rate has been broadly flat (LFS);
• the rate of self-reported stress and related conditions increased during the 1990s, though reporting levels were probably affected by awareness of work-related stress and changing attitudes. Since 1998/99 the rate of self-reported stress, depression or anxiety has remained broadly flat (LFS).

So how important has implementation of the Health and Safety Act been? By all accounts VERY, and although some decisions do seem impractical or just plain obscure, they are generally all based on sound logic and will help save lives.