1 / 10

Occupational Risk and Geographical Variations in Injury Rates Within the UK

This article explores the relationship between occupational risk and geographical variations in injury rates within the UK. It highlights that the type of occupation is a key driver of risk, rather than industry category, and that Scotland has a higher rate of fatal and major injuries due to the higher number of people employed in higher-risk occupations. The article also discusses the impact of the Lofstedt thinking on risk desensitization and challenges some stakeholders' understanding of the factors contributing to injury rates.

marycraig
Download Presentation

Occupational Risk and Geographical Variations in Injury Rates Within the UK

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. HSE Board Meeting September 2011. Lofstedt thinking and risk desensitisation already at work? Injury rates in Scotland are similar to those of English regions with similar occupational compositions. The type of occupation is the key driver of risk rather than industry category, and geographical variations in injury rates are therefore largely explained within Britain as the product of a region’s relative occupational and industrial mix. Scotland has a higher rate of fatal and major injury compared to Great Britain as a whole, because there are more people employed in higher risk occupations in Scotland; but those workers are not at a higher personal risk than others doing similar work elsewhere in Great Britain. This explanation is either not well understood or is not accepted by some stakeholders. AEW for IER May 2012

  2. “Game changer: how safety wins in 2012” 15 March, 2012 | SHP . “The seven-year build programme for the London 2012 Olympics has exploded one of the most pervasive myths in construction: that this industry is inevitably more dangerous to work in than any other. As of January this year, more than 76 million man hours had been spent transforming the Olympics Games sites, with just 125 reportable accidents recorded. That works out to an accident frequency rate of 0.17 incidents per 100,000 workers. The AFR for all UK employment is currently 0.21. AEW for IER May 2012

  3. Queensland health and safety compliance and management pyramid. 2010 AEW for IER May 2012

  4. HSE Board Meeting 2011 Agriculture/Enforcement- More Lofstedt philosophy - Risk banding gone crazy even on safety and no OH on the horizon 27. Although proactive inspection of farms is no longer assessed as an effective use of resource, HSE’s commitment to the programme of inspection of Liquid Petroleum Gas installations does involve many farm visits in Scotland and enforcement levels relating to LPG problems continue to be high. Investigation and enforcement 32. Reactive investigation has always accounted for a significant proportion of the Scottish workload but has recently increased as a proportion of inspectors’ time in line with Government policy. AEW for IER May 2012

  5. Risk banding of HSE is in some cases lethal AEW for IER May 2012

  6. Spate of dock work deaths exposes official 'low risk' folly , Hazards Vol 117 January – March 2012 AEW for IER May 2012

  7. HSE Board Meeting 2011 – Faith as a new HSE business friendly and low cost strategy for dealing with risks post-Lofstedt • 24. The agricultural workforce in Scotland accounts for approximately 4% of the total yet is responsible for around 40% of fatal accidents at work in Scotland. The Agriculture Revisited stakeholder strategy plans to work with FOD Scotland to engage with a range of industry leaders, including NFU Scotland, to support them in dealing with the challenges of taking ownership of the industry's poor health and safety performance in Scotland and of demonstrating leadership in tackling the problem. An early encouraging sign is the engagement plan with the Scottish Government’s Scotland’s Environmental and Rural Services Partnership (SEARS). It includes: • • identifying opportunities for Scottish Ministers to raise awareness of health and safety in agriculture through co-ordinated press releases, • • including health and safety messages in farm visits by other regulators involved in SEARS, • • promoting the free advisory services of the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives to the Scottish farming sector. AEW for IER May 2012

  8. It is necessary to improve OHS within a regulatory framework in UK and not run it down. Why? AEW for IER May 2012

  9. ICL Stockline- can things get worse using the Lofstedt approach? Yes – Plastics risk apparently banded not “major” - ignores occupational diseases - and so much for strict liability? AEW for IER May 2012

  10. The alternatives ? Is Lofstedt already dead in the water or just ‘gulled’? • A recognition of the real extent of the harm caused by work • A recognition of the causes and consequences of 21st century work related health problems • A recognition, as the Maplecroft index reveals that regulation works with regard to OHS and brings economic and civil benefits • A recognition that enforcement isn’t just about compliance and economic good, it is about justice – health and safety breaches are corporate crimes • A need often for more and more effective regulation in our fragmented economies and societies AEW for IER May 2012

More Related