Provisional annual data for work-related fatal accidents in Great Britain’s workplaces from the Health & Safety Executive show that 35 fatal injuries to construction workers were recorded in the year to 31st March 2015. This represents a rate of 1.62 deaths per 100,000 workers.
Over the past five years the average has been 45 construction site deaths. In 2013/14 there were 44 fatalities in construction.
HSE has also released the latest available figures on deaths from asbestos-related cancer. Mesothelioma, one of the few work-related diseases where deaths can be counted directly, contracted through past exposure to asbestos killed 2,538 in Great Britain in 2013 compared to 2,548 in 2012 and 2312 in 2011. The increase in mesothelioma deaths in recent years has been driven mainly by deaths among those aged 75 and above, the HSE said. Of the deaths in 2013, 415 were among women and 2123 were among men – again these are similar to numbers in 2012 when there were 411 deaths among women and 2137 among men.
A more detailed assessment of the data will be provided as part of the annual HSE Statistics release at the end of October.
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