Tuesday 8th is the deadliest date for workplace accidents in the UK, not Friday 13th, as it arises that over the past decade there have been more than one and a half thousand workplace deaths.
A 10-year study conducted by CE Safety, a company which offers Occupational Health (OH) and safety courses has revealed 373 people have died at work on a Tuesday in the UK, as well as 84 workplace deaths on Tuesday 8th. In comparison, 327 people have died at work on a Friday and 80 on Friday 13th.
Since 2008, 1,526 employees have died at work. However, the rate of fatal injuries has dropped significantly since the late 80s from 2.5 (per 100,000 deaths) to 0.5. The study also showed that construction is the deadliest industry to work in with 451 deaths since 2008, 359 deaths in emergency services, 322 deaths in agriculture and 256 deaths in manufacturing.
The biggest cause of fatalities in the construction industry is being struck by an object. Still, the Health Service Executive (HSE) claim that farming is the most dangerous job to work in with construction coming second.
Broken down by regions, the Scottish Highlands is the area with the highest death rate , with the majority of them being caused by coming in to contact with cattle.
Glasgow is the second most dangerous region, then Aberdeenshire, Cornwall and Birmingham.
Gary Ellis, senior consultant from CE Safety said:
Workplace accidents often occur as a result of fatigue. Employers are ultimately responsible for the safety of their employees, and the many regulations and training available should be enough to start seeing these rates decline. Unfortunately, the statistics show that they remain the same – and in our opinion, means not enough is being done.
In March 2014, Southwark Crown Court, heard how Kevin Campbell, a site operative in Stratford was struck by an excavator mounted vibrator (EMV) attached to a 35-tonne excavator that he was working in close proximity to and killed.
Mr Campbell was crushed against a concrete wall by the EMV when he was disconnecting lifting accessories from a metal pile that had just been extracted from the ground.
An investigation by the HSE found that “Clancy Docwra , failed to ensure the safety so far as is reasonably practicable of its employees and of others who were not their employees working on the site.”
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
