The number of work-related injuries occurring in the UK has reached its lowest in a decade, according to research carried out by personal injury specialist YouClaim.
Workplace-related injuries have decreased over the last 10 years, with fatal and non-fatal injuries down by 45% and 51% respectively. This has resulted in a 12% reduction in the cost to employers from £3.322bn in 2005/06 to £2.928bn in 2016/17 and a 9% reduction in days lost due to injury from 6.057m in 2006/07 to 5.532m in 2016/17.
More changes to workplace injury figures in the last decade can be found in this infographic created by YouClaim.
Richard Powell at YouClaim said: “The fall in workplace injuries over the last decade is attributed to the efforts employers have put in to improving health and safety in the workplace. These reductions will have had a significant impact on many organisations’ bottom line, increasing their revenues year on year.”
However, HSE reports indicate that over the last three years, days lost due to injury have increased by 36% from 4.436 million in 2013/14 to 5.532 million in 2016/17. While the value of fines collected since the introduction of new sentencing guidelines on 1st February 2016 has increased by 80%, from £38.8 million in 2015/16 to £69.9 million in 2016/17.
Mr Powell said: “Many organisations do now know the exact cost of accidents in the workplace. Few businesses bother to examine costs when investigating an incident, assuming that losses are recoverable through their insurance. However, uninsured costs are estimated to cost 10 times that of insurance premiums, according to the HSE, which can have a detrimental effect on a business.”
Uninsured and unrecoverable costs include sick pay, plant and equipment repairs, delays in production, damage to workforce morale, and loss of business reputation, leading to a lack of new investment and repeat business.
