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46% of employees do not know how to report a work accident, new study shows

Theo

A new study by personal injury lawyer Simpson Millar has found that 64% of all employees have had an unreported workplace accident.

The data comes after 561,000 people suffered non-fatal injuries at work last year and, sadly, 135 workplace deaths were reported in the same year. With the average person spending 90,000 hours or 3,507 days at work, we need to know how and who to report accidents to. The survey comes as Simpson Millar found that searches for “injuries at work” have increased by 21% in the last three months, with searches for “work injury lawyers” up a further 108%.

Simpson Millar surveyed workers to find out if they had an accident and whether they reported it. We also analyzed data to find out when workplace accidents commonly occur and which industries have the most non-fatal and fatal injuries.

64% of employees had an accident at work that was not reported

According to Simpson Millar data, almost two-thirds (64%) of workers have experienced work-related accidents (caused by their employer) in the past but have not reported them. Only 36% of workers have reported a work-related accident.

Surprisingly, 31% said they ‘never thought to report the accident’. This statistic alone could mean that the 561,000 non-fatal injuries reported in the UK last year could be significantly higher, particularly if workers choose not to report accidents.

There are many reasons why people do not report an accident. One reason could be that the person is unaware of the injury at the time and therefore does not report it. In addition, workers may be unsure of how to properly report an accident and therefore ignore it.

46% of employees do not know how to report a work accident

In addition, 46% of workers are unsure who to report an accident to. This could lead to these workers choosing not to report an accident, which could affect their ability to get the right support. More than a quarter (27%) also said they know which department to contact in the event of an accident. This shows that more needs to be done in the workplace to advise workers where to go and who to speak to when reporting an injury.

These are the industries with the highest number of non-fatal injuries

If you take a closer look at the data on the industries with the most non-fatal injuries, the results may surprise you.

rank Industry Total number of reported non-fatal injuries to employees
1 Activities in the field of human health and social work 10,834
2 Manufacturing 10,382
3 Transport and Storage 8,059
4 Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 6,873
5 Training 4,845
6 construction 4,038
7 Accommodation and gastronomy 3,992
8th Public administration and defence; compulsory social security 3,405
9 Information and communication; financial and insurance services; real estate services; professional, scientific and technical services; administrative support services 2,616
10 Arts, entertainment and recreation; other service provision; activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods and services production activities of households for their own use; activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies 2,598

Source: Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

Health and social care workers are the most likely to suffer non-fatal injuries, with the highest number reported. They also have the highest number of injuries requiring recovery time over 7 days. Manufacturing follows closely behind. However, when looking at the most dangerous industries per 100,000, agriculture is the industry with the most injuries.

In agriculture, there are 246 non-fatal injuries per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to only 59 in the health and social services sector. Workers in the water supply and waste management sector rank second in terms of the number of non-fatal injuries per 100,000 inhabitants, with 216 reported accidents.

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