Fatality rates – A call to action!

Fatality rates – A call to action!

Despite industry lock downs and fewer people working due to the pandemic, a recent Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Report has shown an increase in fatalities in the work place in the last 12 months. Generally, the industry has been stuck on the plateau of around 130 to 140 for the last decade and this year was not hugely different but it was still 142 lives lost at work in Great Britain in 2020/2021, an increase of 29 lives from last year.

All companies and employees in the industry need to ensure that there is no complacency regarding the loss of life in the workplace just because in the grand scheme of things, compared with the total number of people working in the UK these numbers are low, and from a global comparison we are one of the better nations.

This latest data should be used to inform our work and we should never think, that will never happen to us. When we think about our work, and our sector we need to consider what we do, is a fatal accident in our industry a possibility? Is it a possibility in your business? That’s why companies UK-wide need to improve their Risk Assessment and consider the types of accidents that are causing fatalities and the likelihood of them happening in the workplace.

The two charts illustrate the scale and causes of fatalities.

Falls from height are still the main cause of death by accident in the workplace in the UK and companies in the Glass and Glazing industry are more often than not working at height, and have been for decades. What about the sectors, construction is the main contributor and manufacturing third largest, the glass and glazing supply chain operates predominantly in these sectors and all of the other sectors could be our customers, it’s therefore quite possible that a fatal accident happens our sector, and these kind of accidents aren’t selective, they can happen in any business.

“77% of all fatal injuries were accounted for by just 5 different accident kinds in the five-year period 2016/17-2020/21 “ 

77% of the fatal injuries are from falls from height, struck by a moving vehicle, struck by falling/flying object, trapped by something collapsing or overturning and contact with moving machinery. It is therefore worth considering to ask yourself honestly and critically if these kind of accidents could happen in your workplace. If that is the case, then it is advisable to get a risk assessment document and look at the rating you gave to the likelihood of something going wrong.  Check what data you using to measure that rating of likelihood? The data received from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is telling you it is likely. Does your assessment reflect this?  

It could be argued, that companies who have had fatalities and are included in the HSE report are not “compliant” or safe companies, and you may even argue that your company is fully safe and compliant. However consider this line from the HSE report;

“Falls from a height, being struck by a moving vehicle and being struck by a moving, including flying or falling, object continue as the three main causes of fatal injury, between them accounting for over half of all fatal injuries each year since at least 2001/02.”

Since at least 2001 these three types of accidents all of which could occur in our industry any day of the week, have been the main causes of a fatal injury. In view of this, it is worth critically looking at the risk assessment for your business and ask yourself, “Do you agree with the likelihood rating and if you do what data is driving that decision?”

To reduce the likelihood of the causes mentioned earlier, why not shift your philosophies from managing likelihood to building resilient strategies, focusing on;

• Early detection, if something is going to go wrong how soon will you know? Before or after it goes wrong?
• Capacity to fail and recover- Can you fail safe and/or recover from the failure reasonably undamaged
• Early exploitation (learning) – How quick can you learn from the “failure” or a near failure?

It is essential that you are critical with yourself and your systems and really push and test them. Ask yourself, are you safe by design or safe by luck? If you think it’s by design then you should be able to trace that back and explain how it was by design. If it’s by luck then you will reach a conclusion that it is normally at the point of human error, i.e. “if Bob followed the procedure it wouldn’t have happened” so luck then, not design.

The GGF delivers presentations on high risk work at the quarterly Regional Meetings. These presentations are designed to help GGF Members become more resilient organizations. The GGF is currently reviewing its Glass Charter which is focused on guiding members in this direction and a vital part of that is getting feedback and data from Members. So you can help the GGF and your own company by completing our Health, Safety and Environment Survey by clicking here

Also you can now submit your accident and incident data for the year so far by clicking here

For more information or guidance on Health, Safety and Environment, please contact James MacPherson via email healthandsafety@ggf.org.uk