Great Britain’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website recently released is full and finalized offshore health and safety statistics for 2008/2009. The detailed report follows the release of “headline” statistics in August (09) and contains figures on injury, ill health, and dangerous occurrences, including hydrocarbon releases, between April 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009.
1. No workers were killed while working offshore during 2008/2009 – the second consecutive year with no fatalities – and there was a fall in reported major injuries (30), a fall of 14 compared with 2007/2008 figures.
2. The combined fatal and major injury rate dropped to 106 per 100,000 workers in 2008/2009 compared with 156 in 2007/2008 and 146 in 2006/2007. The highest number of injuries occurred during maintenance and construction work.
3. The number of major and significant hydrocarbon releases, regarded as potential precursors to a major incident, also showed marked improvement with 61 in 2008/2009 compared with 74 in 2007/2008.
4. The three-day injury rate in 2008/2009 experienced a small decrease with 496 workers per 100,000 reporting an injury, bucking the broadly flat trend over the previous seven years.
Steve Walker, HSE’s head of offshore, noted, “Though these figures suggest the sector is getting safer, with both the combined fatal and major injury rate and major hydrocarbon releases at their lowest since HSE began regulating the industry, they cannot be taken in isolation. The tragic loss on April 1, 2009 of 17 workers in two separate air transport and maritime incidents – areas not regulated by HSE – is a stark reminder of the hazards of working offshore and the need to ensure they are carefully managed. (workersxzcompxzkit)
“However, while continuing to work to minimize the potential for large-scale incidents, the offshore industry must not forget the risks to workers from every day activities such as lifting and carrying and maintenance work which were responsible for the vast majority of all offshore injuries during 2008/2009,” he added.
The offshore injury, ill health, and incident statistics report 2008/09 can be downloaded free from the HSE at www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/statistics.htm
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: [email protected] or 860-553-6604.
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