The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has recently published provisional statistics on workplace ill-health and injury in Scotland in 2011/12.
The figures show that:
- There were 9,551 reported injuries to employees in 2011/12 compared to 10,216 in 2010/11, a fall of 7%.
- 64,000 people said they were suffering from an illness caused or made worse by their work, down from 77,000 in 2010/11.
- 20 workers were fatally injured - up from 14 the previous year. The average for the past five years was 23 worker deaths per year.
The HSE has also revealed that in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available across the EU, the standardised rate of work-related fatal injury excluding traffic accidents was 0.59 per 100,000 workers in GB, the second lowest in the EU.
HSE head of operations in Scotland, Alistair McNab, said:
"While there has been a welcome drop in injury and ill-health in Scotland, the increase in workplace deaths proves that there is no room for complacency.
"It is important that efforts are concentrated on managing the risks that lead to serious harm in workplaces throughout Scotland. It is unacceptable that Scottish workers are still failing to come home from work safe.”