Health and Safety Statistics and the SME perspective November 2013

1. Health and Safety Statistics and the SME perspectiveNovember 2013

2. Whole economy overview

3. Fatal injuries in the workplace • Fatalities to workers reduced slightly in 2012/13 (148 compared with 171 in 2011/12) • Evidence of a levelling off in downward trend over past 5 years

4. Self-reported injuries (LFS)

5. Underlying trend in RIDDOR data • Change to Over-7-Day reporting from Over-3-Day reduced reports by approximately 30% (no suggestion that the change affected major injury reporting) • Modelling suggests the underlying trend is still downwards for the whole economy series

6. New cases of work-related ill health2011/12

7. Days lost from work-related injury or illness • 5.2 million working days were lost in 2012/13 due to injury – on average 8.1 days per injury

8. Cost to society of H&S failings2006/07-2011/12 (2011 prices) No ill health data collected • Workplace injuries and ill health (excluding cancer) cost society an estimated £13.8bn in 2010/11 (2011 prices)

9. SME statistics – some challenges • RIDDOR suffers from substantial underreporting, and this is a particular issue for injuries in SMEs and the self-employed. Workplace size field is also poorly recorded • Reliance on survey data to give a fair comparison • BUT small sample sizes often prevent detailed exploration

10. Work-related ill health2011/12

11. Rates of work-related MSD2011/12 • No difference in levels of musculoskeletal disorders by organisation size

12. Rates of work-related stress2011/12 • Total cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety are higher in large organisations than in SMEs

13. Rate of injury (over 3 day absence)3 year average – 2010/11-2012/13 • Medium sized organisations have higher injury rates than either small or large – but all have shown a decrease in injury levels over time

14. Injury and ill health rates for SMEs by industry sector 5 year average rates

15. How is H&S managed in practice at the workplace • Effective health and safety management practices in the workplace fundamental to securing improvement in health and safety outcomes. • 2009 pan-European survey showed workplaces generally take coherent, systems-based approach to occupational health and safety management. • However, level of preventive action varies according to a number of factors, most importantly workplace size.

16. How is H&S managed in practice at the workplace • Plans underway for repeating 2009 European survey next year; • HSE is hoping to collaborate with EU-OSHA to increase the value of the UK results • Will provide a wealth of data on how management practices vary by industry sector and workplace size; • Will update the group with developments at next meeting

17. Summary • Overall improvements in health and safety outcomes over past decade • Lower ill health rates in SMEs • Difference is stress – higher levels in large organisations • Some inconsistency in injury rates but all organisation sizes have improved over time • SMEs less likely to have coherent systems-based approach to health and safety management

18. HSE User Engagement Conference • 21st January 2014 at Redgrave Court in Liverpool • Opportunity for our data users to feed back their own experiences of using HSE’s statistics • Topics to be covered include: • Hints and tips for benchmarking data • Top frustrations with the statistics – what are they, why do they exist and what are we doing about it? • Ongoing research including a look at the Harm Index, analysis of occupation groups and research into shift-work • Attendance is free – contact eileen.morris@hse.gsi.gov.uk to express an interest and find out more information.

19. Find out morewww.hse.gov.uk/statistics