A planned European health and safety week is hoped to help stem a sharp increase in workplace fatalities among British workers.
The week – beginning on October 15 – hopes to improve on last year’s coverage of 7,000 UK employers and more than four million employees. The theme of the week is that accidents do not need to happen and that controls can prevent them.
Latest provisional figures reveal that 275 workers were killed at work between April 2000 and March 2001. That compared with 220 in 1999/2000.
The construction sector suffered the highest number of deaths (105), followed by the services sector (68) and agriculture (46).
A free newsletter and action pack about the European Week for Safety and Health is available from the Health and Safety Executive on tel: 0845 7181819.
