The building industry is among a number of sectors that have recorded a steep fall in the number of people killed at work, new figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveal.
Workplace deaths have fallen to a record low - from 233 in March 2008 to 180 in the same month this year, giving the lowest total since records began in 1974.
The construction industry saw one of the biggest falls, from 72 fatal injuries to 53 over the 12-month period. Meanwhile, agriculture - also considered to be a “dangerous” industry - recorded a drop from 46 deaths to 26 over the year.
While HSE chairman Judith Hackitt acknowledged that an economic downturn was likely to result in a fall in workplace fatalities, she welcomed the figures.
The HSE was established in 1974, when the Health and Safety at Work Act was introduced, and recorded 650 workplace deaths in that first year.
In the following decades, the number of workers’ lives lost due to safety failings in the workplace was steadily reduced - down to 495 in 1981, 368 in 1991 and 251 in 2001.
