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North East top of work injury chart

The North East has the highest rate of work-related illness in the UK, according to new figures.

At 6,060 per 100,000 workers, the region scored higher than London and Scotland, but had the lowest number of work-related deaths at just five. The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) also said the region had the highest rate of work-related injuries over the past year at 1,380 per 100,000 workers.

In the UK as a whole, 36 million working days were lost due to injury or ill health in 2006/2007, according to the report.

Judith Hackitt, chair of the HSC said: “Employers have a legal duty to protect their employees and visible leadership from the top of the organisation can truly influence health and safety culture in our changing work environments.”

David Snowball, North East regional director of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), added: “We know that health and safety processes are stubborn matters to address, even though precautions are often simple to implement and so that is where we will focus our preventive effort with employers who have a legal duty to protect their employees. “We will continue to take enforcement action against those who fail to meet their legal responsibilities to provide healthy and safe work places.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .