What does the latest HSE Labour Force Survey reveal about workforce health & safety in the construction sector

According to the HSE (Health & Safety Executive) annual survey figures, work place fatalities are down but ill-health continues to cost the UK £14.9bn p.a.

HSE generated Statistics from the Labour Force Survey 2016/17 indicate that 1.3 million workers were suffering from work related ill-health, and there were 609,000 workplace injuries. Unfortunately, there is still work to do as 137 fatal injuries occurred (a 5% decrease on the previous year).

For the first time, stress became the UK’s biggest work-related illness, overtaking musculoskeletal disorder cases. The HSE has highlighted that while the statistics show that Britain remains one of the safest places to work, there is still work to do to drive figures down. Overall, workplace injury and new cases of ill health cost Britain £14.9bn a year with 31.2 million working days lost.

There have been significant reductions in the number and rate of injury over the last 20 years or more. Nevertheless, construction remains a high-risk industry. Although it accounts for only about 5% of the employees in Britain it represents 27% of all accidents recorded. Drilling down into the figures we see that 80,000 construction workers suffered from work-related ill health each year with 30 fatal injuries to workers over 2016/17. The diagram below shows the splits by illness type that occurs in the sector:

Mosaic HealthCheck provides a simple solution that allows secure and safe storage of confidential medical records against worker records. Operate with the peace of mind knowing that this confidential information is ring fenced and password protected allowing only designated members of the user community access. This user-friendly solution allows renewal dates in line with fit for work medical records and health surveillance tests to be highlighted.

When specific medical records are approaching renewal time, Mosaic automatically electronically alerts the relevant party, albeit the contractor or subcontractor, to action a renewal with their employee. This saves considerable amount of time chasing and cuts down on paperwork as well.

Please contact us to discuss our solutions further