The Revitalising Health and Safety target for injury which applies to Great Britain is to reduce the incidence rate of fatal and major injury by 10 per cent. between 1999-2000 and 2009-10; the pro-rata target for 2005-06 is a 6 per cent. reduction. The available sources indicate no clear change since the base year in the rate of fatal and major injury to employees. Since 2000, HSE has concentrated on key priority areas in partnership with industry and others. This has resulted in significant improvements in, for example, falls from height where the number of injuries has reduced. This activity has begun to show through to the overall fatal and major injuries rate.
The Health and Safety Executive has a public service agreement (PSA) target to reduce injuries by 3 per cent. between 2004-05 and 2007-08. In the first year of this agreement, the rate of fatal and major injuries dropped by 6.7 per cent.
There were 212 fatalities to workers reported for the whole year of 2005-06, 223 for 2004-05, and 236 in 2003-04. For the first six months of 2006-07, there were 124 fatal injuries to workers.
There were 28,605 major injuries reported for employees in 2005-06, compared with 30,451 in 2004-05, and 30,689 in 2003-04. For 2005-06, there were also 117,471 other injuries to employees reported causing an absence of over three days.
In 2003 (the most recent year for which data are available across the European Union) the average rate of work-related fatal injury in the European Union, excluding transport accidents, is 2.5 per 100,000 workers. The British rate is 1.1—the lowest across the EU.
EUROSTAT has estimated that there were 3.5 million over three day injuries in the EU, allowing for under-reporting. This translates into a non-fatal rate of 3,334 per 100,000 workers. The British rate is 1,614. The British rate of workplace non-fatal injury in 2003 is the fourth lowest among EU member states.