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Britain became a healthier and safer place to work last year, according to figures released today by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), but figures for the North East show that companies need to take health and safety more seriously.
Statistics show there has been a significant reduction in the numbers of people killed, injured or suffering work related ill-health from April 2008 to March 2009.
Across England, Scotland and Wales, 29.3 million working days (equivalent to 1.24 days per worker) were lost to injury and ill health last year – compared with 33.9 million in 2007/08.
Workplace fatal injuries fell from 233 in 2007/08 to a record low of 180 in 2008/09, and there was a reduction of over 7,000 in the number of workplace injuries classified as serious or incurring more than three days absence from work.
In the North East, there were 9 deaths in 2008/09 compared to 7 in 2007/08. The number of serious workplace injuries was also up, from 1,310 in 2007/08 to 1,362 in 2008/09.
Comparison with international data shows Britain to be one of the safest places to work in the EU.
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