“Brendan Barber has called for improvements to health and safety” align=”right”>The TUC has called on the coalition government to appoint a health and safety "tsar", after new figures showed that thousands of people are being killed while at work every year.
According to research carried out by the trade union, in excess of 20,000 employees die in their workplace annually, with scores more being exposed to disease-causing chemicals and fumes.
"For those who are made ill or injured at work and for the relatives of those who have died as a result of their work, health and safety is no joke," said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber. "The UK continues to need strong regulation."
He claimed that any reduction in government funding for local authorities and the Health and Safety Executive would most likely result in more workers being killed or injured while simply doing their jobs.
Employers concerned about improving safety at work may benefit from attending the Employee Wellbeing Forum 2010 in London next month.
Posted by Ross George
Where do the TUC get their figures from?
Do deaths at work refer to things like heart attacks and strokes, which are not directly work related as well as the ‘proper’ work related deaths? According to most reliable figures the number of work related deaths per year is about 200. All of these are avoidable incidents related directly to work. They can be managed out of the system that is what we must aim for. Health and Safety professionals must not get drawn into vague well being concepts where employers are encouraged to interfere in the lifestyles of their employees (don’t drink, don’t smoke, and don’t do drugs). This smacks of Victorian paternalism.
The International Labour Organisation puts the UK’s annual work related deaths at between 16,000 & 24,000. As well as the 200 killed which the HSE records (and reports on annually)there are approximately 800-1000 from work-related RTAs, 5,000+ from asbestos and numerous thousands from other work-related diseases.