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Businesses around the country are being congratulated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after new figures show workplace deaths have reached a record low. Provisional HSE data revealed that 151 workers were killed between April 2009 and March 2010, down from 178 deaths the previous year, a significant improvement on the 220 average of the last five years. Construction, previously one of the most notorious industries for work-related deaths, displayed the greatest improvements in safety. Before this year's figures, 66 construction workers died on average over the past five years, this year just 44 people suffered fatal injuries. "As with all health and safety statistics, today's announcement is a combination of encouraging news about improvement but also a salutary reminder of the tragedies of lives lost at work," said HSE Chair Judith Hackitt. "It's really very encouraging to see a further reduction in workplace fatalities in the past year. This is performance which owes much to good practice, leadership and employee engagement.” However, despite promising figures, the HSE revealed that agriculture, considered the most dangerous industry in Britain , returned to the fatality high of yester year as 38 workers died on farms in the past 12 months, up from a record low of 25 deaths in 2008/09. “We are especially concerned to see the continuing high levels of fatalities in agriculture,” added Ms Hackitt. "We should also remember that 151 families are mourning the loss of someone who last year went out to work and never came home. For more than six years Great Britain has had the lowest rate of fatal injuries in employment, compared with the latest data available for leading industrial nations, in Europe, and Ms Hackitt is keen to stress that current levels should not dip. “Being one of the best health and safety performers in the world means continuing to strive to drive these numbers down further, not getting complacent about what we've collectively achieved and recognising the new challenges as we emerge from the recession.”
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