Fall in deaths at work but data just ‘tip of iceberg’


The number of work-related deaths is expected to have fallen from last year, but the latest “RIDDOR” statistics recorded for the HSE are “just the tip of the iceberg” and do not tell the whole story, according to the GMB general union.


While the latest figures look to be lower than last year’s total of 144, the union estimates that up to 50,000 work-related deaths go unreported every year. 


The official figures do not include occupational disease, including lung disease and heart disease, workers killed in road traffic accidents, workers killed at sea, and work-related suicides.


The GMB estimates that between 20,000 and 50,000 workers and ex-workers are killed in these ways each year.

www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/unreported-work-deaths