HSC publishes "Health & Safety in Local Authority Enforced Sectors: HELA National Picture 2002" 

The Health & Safety Commission (HSC) today publishes the latest detailed statistics on workplace safety, ill health, inspection and enforcement action in local authority (LA) enforced sectors. The document can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/books.htm 

In April 2001 the Incident Contact Centre (ICC) was introduced to receive and record all RIDDOR notifications centrally. Provisional figures for 2001/02 show a reduction in the number of fatalities to workers, from 19 in 2000/01 to 12 in 2001/02, whilst fatalities to members of the public increased from 21 to 27, continuing a rising trend from 1996/97. HSC published the fatal injuries statistics for all sectors in July 2002, following special quality assurance of fatal records. The 2001/02 provisional non-fatal injury statistics will be released on 10 December following extra quality assurance work, connected with the new system of reporting, which has taken longer than anticipated. 

The main points for 2000/01 finalised statistics are: 

· The rate of reported major injury has fallen gradually over the past four years to 47.5 per 100,000 employees in 2000/01. The rate of over-three-day injuries fell by 5% in 2000/01 to 211.4. 

· Non-fatal injuries to members of the public fell from 7,567 in 1999/2000 to 5,315 in 2000/01. Numbers have fluctuated widely since the introduction of RIDDOR 95. 

· The number of full-time equivalent LA enforcement officers fell by 4% in 2000/01 to 1,070, continuing the recent downward trend. There was a consequent fall in the number of visits to premises from 313,000 to 300,000 and a 5% reduction in formal enforcement notices issued. Overall, the rate of visits has fallen by almost a quarter in the last five years. 

· In 2000/01, 401 informations were laid, of which 88% resulted in a conviction. The average fine per conviction was £3,903, 15% lower than the previous year (£4,595). 

· Results from the Self-reported Work-related Illness Survey 1998/99 indicated that 366,000 people who worked in the past 12 months suffered from an illness in that period attributed to their current or most recent job in the LA enforced sector. Musculoskeletal disorders were the most commonly reported condition, followed by stress, depression and anxiety. This estimate will be updated in next year's National Picture using results from the Self-reported Work-related Illness Survey 2001/02. 

Copies of Health and safety in local authority enforced sectors: HELA National Picture 2002 are free and can be ordered online at: http://www.hsebooks.co.uk or from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA (Tel: 01787 881165/Fax: 01787 313995). 

NOTES TO EDITORS 

1. 410 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales are responsible for enforcing health and safety law in 1.2 million premises, such as offices, retail/wholesale distribution outlets, hotel and catering establishments, residential care homes, consumer services and the leisure industry. Section 18(4) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires LAs to perform their duties in accordance with guidance from HSC. 

2. HSC proposes new or updated laws and standards, and provides information and advice, whilst enforcement is divided between LAs and HSE, depending on the main activity carried out at work premises. The HSE/LA Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA) was set up in 1975 to ensure consistency in enforcement among LAs and between LAs and HSE. 

3. The Revitalising Health and Safety strategy statement was launched by the Chair of the HSC and the Deputy Prime Minister in June 2000. It includes a 44-point action plan which aims to achieve, by 2010, the following national targets for improving health and safety: 

· to reduce the number of working days lost per 100,000 workers from work-related injury and ill-health by 30%; 

· to reduce the incidence rate of cases of work-related ill-health by 20%; 

· to reduce the incidence rate of fatalities and major injuries by 10%; and 

· to achieve half the improvement under each target by 2004. 

4. New arrangements for "National Statistics'" were also launched by the Government in July 2000, to enhance the integrity and quality of official statistics. The National Statistics logo, which is on the HELA National Picture 2002, means that the statistics concerned must be produced to high professional standards, subject to regular quality assurance reviews, and published free from political interference. To achieve this, the National Statistics arrangements include an independent Statistics Commission, a Code of Practice, and mechanisms for consultation with stakeholders. 

5. The data on workplace injuries for 2001/02 are the first being collected by electronic means at the ICC. RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) notifications can now be submitted by telephone, the web, fax and email, as well as by post. HSE recognised during the implementation of the ICC that additional quality assurance work would be needed with a system new to employers and new for processing RIDDOR notifications. The extra work is necessary to ensure HSE's key statistical outputs meet the standards of National Statistics - the Government's code of practice on production and release of official statistics. The quality assurance work is taking longer than anticipated because of the complex issues that the ICC is expected to deal with. HSE and the ICC are developing a programme of improvements for specific areas of data collection. However, this has led to a delay in the release of 2001/02 provisional non-fatal injury statistics. These will be released on 10 December. Fatality records are subject to special quality assurance arrangements and are unaffected by the ICC. The 2001/02 fatal figures were released in July 2002. 

6. Figures for England, Scotland and Wales: 

England 2000/2001 Fatal: 18 employees, 17 members of the public (MoP)Non-fatal: 28,048 employees, 4733 MoP 

1999/2000 Fatal: 9 employees, 18 MoPNon-fatal: 28,980 employees, 6,766 MoP 

Scotland 2000/2001 Fatal: 0Non-fatal: 1,650 employees, 308 MoP 

1999/2000 Fatal: 2 employeesNon-fatal: 1,757 employees, 427 MoP 

Wales 2000/2001 Fatal: 4 MoPNon-fatal: 1,135 employees, 274 MoP 

1999/2000 Fatal: 1 employeeNon-fatal: 1,246 employees, 374 MoP 

Public Enquiries: Call HSE's InfoLine, Tel: 08701 545500, or write to: HSE Information Services, Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG. 

Press Enquiries relating to this Press Release: Journalists only: Philip Gibson 020 7717 6219. 

NB: HSC/E officials are happy to answer questions on the contents of the publication issued today, but cannot provide detailed information on individual LAs. Such information should be sought from relevant LA(s). 

Inspection, Enforcement and Injury data by county and country, 

as reported to local authorities, 2000/2001. 

Inspection and Enforcement data Reported injuries 

County Total premises¹ FTE¹ Visits per 1000 premises¹ Formal Notices per 1000 premises¹ LAE1Responserate Workers Members of public 

Former County of Avon 28 654 20.2 170 5 100% 617 76 

Bedfordshire (inc. Luton UA) 7 254 10.5 114 12 75% 255 41 

Former County of Berkshire 11 353 9.7 190 6 100% 576 82 

Buckinghamshire (inc. Milton Keynes UA) 10 198 8.6 177 9 100% 558 73 

Cambridgeshire (inc. Peterborough UA) 10 560 9.4 173 3 83% 512 53 

Cheshire (inc. Halton & Warrington UA's) 14 954 14.4 293 9 88% 804 130 

Former County of Cleveland 5 652 9.9 242 12 100% 189 61 

Cornwall 15 311 14.2 290 6 86% 186 66 

Cumbria 9 218 5.3 188 5 83% 202 67 

Derbyshire (inc. City of Derby UA) 17 053 16.4 177 5 78% 268 60 

Devon (inc. Plymouth & Torbay UA's) 23 437 20.3 257 2 100% 541 203 

Dorset (inc. Bournemouth & Poole UA's) 15 122 10.8 195 2 100% 309 79 

Durham (inc. Darlington UA) 7 063 9.3 435 6 88% 185 36 

East Sussex (inc. Brighton & Hove UA) 19 546 15.3 223 2 100% 252 61 

Essex (inc. Southend & Thurrock UA's) 24 331 23.7 290 4 93% 728 133 

Gloucestershire 9 289 9.9 225 3 100% 306 62 

Hampshire (inc. Portsmouth & Southampton UA's) 25 192 27.6 228 6 100% 918 163 

Herefordshire UA 3 528 2.0 188 16 100% 105 15 

Hertfordshire 16 618 14.4 244 3 100% 810 110 

Former County of Humberside 16 069 18.8 227 7 100% 356 54 

Isle of Wight 2 642 2.7 122 12 100% 42 17 

Kent (inc. The Medway Towns UA) 25 701 21.9 309 3 92% 1 117 173 

Lancashire (inc. Blackburn & Blackpool UA's) 31 287 28.0 264 4 100% 543 118 

Leicestershire (inc. City of Leicester & Rutland UA's) 15 941 22.6 215 10 89% 550 71 

Lincolnshire 11 012 12.5 356 5 86% 362 178 

Norfolk 14 882 16.6 290 6 100% 451 93 

North Yorkshire (inc. York UA) 13 320 9.8 208 1 88% 395 77 

Northamptonshire 8 024 9.9 363 10 86% 597 39 

Northumberland 3 465 3.0 122 6 83% 94 19 

Nottinghamshire (inc. City of Nottingham UA) 8 084 12.3 281 7 88% 590 116 

Oxfordshire 11 742 7.8 227 3 100% 374 30 

Shropshire (inc. Telford & Wrekin UA) 7 178 8.0 149 2 100% 215 53 

Somerset 11 861 11.6 150 4 100% 256 42 

Staffordshire (incl.Stoke-on-Trent UA) 17 414 23.0 352 10 89% 606 88 

Suffolk 12 896 15.5 150 4 86% 208 37 

Surrey 15 896 14.11 203 6 82% 515 66 

Warwickshire 9 835 9.2 270 5 100% 398 43 

West Sussex 12 679 11.7 216 2 100% 357 105 

Wiltshire (incl. Swindon UA) 11 953 14.9 109 3 100% 500 78 

Worcestershire 8.463 9.2 319 6 100% 321 50 

Greater Manchester 53 511 58.1 234 9 100% 2 155 223 

Merseyside 21 786 20.7 325 2 80% 600 106 

South Yorkshire 16 807 13.0 193 2 75% 746 124 

Tyne and Wear 21 724 19.5 305 5 100% 547 133 

West Midlands 42 919 41.6 272 10 100% 1 452 236 

West Yorkshire 43 628 27.5 217 3 100% 1 473 214 

Greater London 174 938 108.3 190 3 91% 4 004 596 

England2 1 040 000 900.0 246 5 92% 28 145 4 750 

Wales2 59 000 60.0 245 4 91% 1 137 278 

Scotland2 98 000 110.0 288 6 97% 1 652 308 

Total2(Great Britain) 1 197 000 1070 0 251 5 93% 30 934 5 336 

¹Inspection and enforcement data by county reflects returns received from LAs within the county. No estimates are made for LAs that did not return data in 2000/01. 

2Inspection and enforcement data for England, Wales, Scotland and Great Britain are estimates based on the returns received in 2000/01. 

Lonsdale Health and Safety Consultants provide a cost effective range of services which include Risk Assessment, Health and Safety Policy , Manual Handling , Training, Computer Health and Safety and Competent Person services to support your business in meeting current health and safety legislation.