Workplace staff injury numbers take big fall
Fewer hotel and restaurant staff are suffering injuries at work, according to statistics from the Health & Safety Executive.
Its provisional figures for the 12 months from April 1999 to March 2000 reveal a 16% drop in the number of employees who reported a major injury. The number of cases fell to 779, from 923 the previous year.
The level of less-serious injuries requiring at least three days' absence from work declined by 10% to 3,103 cases, from 3,427 in 1998-99. However, there was one fatality, as there had been the year before.
The figures for hospitality reflect a general downward trend in the number of accidents at work in all sectors except the construction industry.
Overall, the number of major injuries dropped to 28,939 from 29,053 the year before, while the number of deaths fell to 218 from 253.
In June, the Government launched its Revitalising Health and Safety strategy, which includes a 44-point action plan to cut down the incidence of illness and injury in the workplace by set targets by the year 2010.
The Government wants to reduce the rate of fatal and major injuries at work by 10%, the incidence of work-related ill health by 20%, and the number of days lost to work-related injuries and illness by 30%.
by Angela Frewin
