The workplace is getting safer, according to the HSE

The latest statistics from the Health & Safety Executive show that UK workplaces are getting safer.

The new estimated workplace safety statistics are expected to show a drop in the number of workers fatally injured in the year from 1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999.

Deaths in the workplace are expected to fall from 274 in 1997/98 to 257 over the current year, with tougher legislation and a higher standard of awareness of possible problems helping to improve the figures.

Sir Frank Davies, Chairman of the Health and Safety Commission, said: "These figures, for employees and the self-employed combined, are our best estimates so far and look like being one of the lowest on record."

But it's not good news for every sector. Fatal injuries in the manufacturing sector are rising, along with deaths in agriculture, offset by happier figures which show a rise in standards across construction and other workplaces.

Gary Cutlack