HSE Annual Report 2022-23

Recently, the HSE published its annual work-related ill-health and injury statistics for 2022/2023.

These statistics provide both a general overview and detailed reports that review the current state of worker health and safety in the UK. Topics covered range from fatal and non-fatal injuries, to the cost of ill health and injuries, and comparisons with other countries.

The information provided in these statistics are a great resource for organisations and professionals in regulated industries throughout the UK, and Reactec evaluates them with interest every year. By identifying trends in this annual data, such as areas where teams are seeing increased or decreased exposure to dangerous risks, our experts can identify what support workers and companies need most when it comes to risk monitoring and management.

Below, we’ll review some of the key data from this year’s report, and offer our takeaways and advice for how teams can most effectively approach health and safety issues within their organisation:

The construction industry saw the highest number of fatalities (45) due to work-related accidents. That’s an average of one worker killed every eight days. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing saw the next-highest number of fatal injuries (21), and manufacturing saw a total of 15 workers killed.

The most common kinds of accidents which caused fatal injuries included being struck by a moving object or vehicle, being trapped by something collapsing or overturning, and contact with moving machinery.

Key takeaways and advice:

There’s been no meaningful drop in the rate of fatal injury to workers in the UK over the last several years. In fact, the number of fatal accidents reported in 2022/2023 was higher than the previous year (in 2020/2021, 123 workers were killed in work-related accidents). This lack of progress is notable given the options that teams have today for better risk monitoring and management with regards to dangerous proximity.

In the modern workplace, there are proximity warning systems which are specifically engineered to ensure that workers remain aware of their surroundings, and avoid these types of dangerous accidents. For teams that haven’t yet modernised their approach to risk management, these technologies are a clear opportunity to create a much safer working environment.

When considering a proximity warning system, it’s important to gain a basic understanding of proximity warning technologies and how they work. For a deeper dive into the types of technologies that are currently available, you can register to watch this informative on-demand webinar to learn more about different approaches to tackling proximity hazards.

The HSE acknowledges that self-reported workplace injuries are substantially under-reported. Even so, over half of a million workers reported non-fatal injuries during the last reporting period, a number which hasn’t meaningfully changed or reduced since 2018/2019.

Approximately 11% of self-reported non-fatal injuries were caused when workers were struck by moving objects: This represents approximately 62,000 workers. Given that 29 workers were killed after being struck by moving objects during the same year, it’s clear that avoiding dangerous proximity to hazards is a key area for organisations to tackle moving forward.

Key takeaways and advice:

Interface between man and machines has been a persistent problem in the construction and manufacturing industries for years, and it’s clearly something that organisations must continue to prioritise.

Moving forward, it will become increasingly important for teams to consider flexible proximity warning solutions that make it easy for workers to steer clear of dangerous hazards without interrupting business-as-usual. Already, it’s clear that such technology can offer teams a distinct advantage when it comes to protecting workers: In a recent trial, workers who received notifications of unsafe proximity recorded 82% less incursion time than unalerted workers.

For teams thinking about a better way to manage their workers’ proximity to hazards at work, this article explores what proximity detection technology is, how it works, and why it’s important.

The cost of the status quo is high, and it’s only getting higher. The cost to employers for injuries and ill-health in the workplace was reported at nearly £21 billion for 2021/2022, and that number is up nearly £2 billion year-on-year.

While teams across industries such as construction and manufacturing have been historically slow to digitise, the time to modernise your approach to health and safety has clearly arrived.

Key takeaways and advice:

We’ve long-spoken about the cost of staying unconnected: While teams may be reluctant to change, their continued reliance on outdated methods for risk monitoring and management comes at great cost to worker health and safety, not to mention the financial impact to organisations as a result of compensation claims or financial penalties levied by the HSE.

But with a more modern, technology-driven approach to risk monitoring and management, teams can transform their health and safety efforts while also streamlining processes and improving operational efficiency, all while better protecting their bottom line.

Summary:

The HSE’s annual report makes it clear that organisations need to level up their approach to worker health and safety when it comes to dangerous proximity. The staggering amount of injuries and fatalities caused by contact with moving vehicles or objects is particularly problematic given the avoidability of these incidents.

Solutions - such as R-Link from Reactec - make it possible for organisations to take better control of their risk environment. Not only do teams and workers benefit from real-time alerts that help them avoid potentially dangerous interactions with many different sources of risk, they also get the benefit of deeper insight with Reactec’s powerful Analytics platform.

With Reactec’s Analytics software, you can go beyond day-to-day risk monitoring and management, and access data that informs better strategic decision-making. With the unprecedented level of insight you’ll achieve, you can immediately start to improve individual, departmental, and organisational outcomes.