Workers Memorial Day 2018 at GMB trade union
30 April 2018

Work-related fatalities as reported under RIDDOR show a total of 137 this last 12 months.

In recent years the Government has removed certain figures from the total including:

  1. road accidents on way to and from or during work
  2. workers traveling by air or sea, as there are different investigators and reports covering maritime and air travel
  3. deaths by natural causes like heart attacks or strokes, which may be brought on by trauma due to an accident
  4. armed forces
  5. patients and service user deaths in medical areas

Is there a Downward trend? Or are the figures being watered down or covered up? We need to fight for the living to say any work-related death is preventable and use our health and safety expertise to win the day.

There have been 137 fatalities between 2016-17
In Construction 30 people killed
Agriculture 27 workers killed
Waste and recycling. 14 killed at work (this industry has seen a big 
increase with the average doubled for previous years it’s now 18 x the average for other industries in relation to the size of the industry)

Wholesale/retail/food 12 killed

Transport and storage 14 killed

Manufacturing 19 killed at work

Other 33. Including Communications/finance 8; public authority such as in education, health, social work 6 people.

Mines and quarries 4 people no longer with us; electricity-gas workers 3 deaths by work-related accidents
Main accident causes are by vehicles, falls from height, Struck by moving or falling objects
Trapped by collapsing or overturning equipment, or moving machinery and electricity,

 

Ages
Unknown - 5
Aged 16-59     -   98
Over 60. – 34 deaths, but this category is only 10% of the workforce
Self-employed deaths more than double other workers
92 members of the public killed due to work-related accidents

Workers Memorial Day April 2018 at GMB trade union