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STATISTICAL AUDIT OF THE HSE

Prosecutions Following Major Injuries

Tables 6 and 7 sets out percentages of investigated major injuries, over a three year period, that have resulted in a prosecution and conviction. Table 6 shows that only a small percentage (11% in 1998/9) of major injuries to workers resulted in prosecution and that the percentage had hardly changed in the three year period. This is a much lower rate of prosecution than after deaths - over a third less when comparing major injuries and deaths that took place in 1998/9.

Table 7 shows that – as with deaths - the level of prosecution after major injuries to the public is far less that worker injuries – though there has been a three fold increase in the percentage of prosecutions in the three year period from 2% to 6%.

Table 6:
Numbers of investigated major injuries to workers in 1996/97 – 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution

	Nos Inv	Nos Pros	% Pros	Nos Conv
1996/7	2,532	204	8%	201
1997/8	2,710	296	11%	291
1998/9	2,740	297	11%	294

Table 7
Numbers of investigated major injuries to members of the public in 1996/97 – 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution

	Nos Inv	Nos Pros	% Pros	Nos Conv
1996/7	576	14	2%	13
1997/8	507	24	5%	24
1998/9	549	34	6%	33

Table 8 to 12 set out prosecution and conviction data in relation to major injuries of workers in different industries over a three year period. It is notable that the Energy and Extractive sector was the only industry where the level of prosecution decreased over the three-year period (7% to 3%).
The levels of prosecution are still divergent, however. In 1998/9, whilst in manufacturing, 12% of investigated major injuries resulted in prosecution, in agriculture the level was only 7% - even though there were far fewer injuries investigated. In the Service Sector the increase in prosecution rates was particularly notable – from 17 major injuries to 36.

Table 8
Numbers of investigated major injuries to workers in the Construction sector in 1996/7 – 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution

	Nos Inv	Nos Pros	% Pros	Nos Conv
1996/7	559	46	8%	45
1997/8	581	78	13%	76
1998/9	658	80	12%	79

Table 9
Numbers of investigated major injuries to workers in Manufacturing in 1996/7 – 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution

	Nos Inv	Nos Pros	% Pros	Nos Conv
1996/7	1270	126	10%	124
1997/8	1422	178	13%	177
1998/9	1372	167	12%	165

Table 10
Numbers of investigated major injuries to workers in Agriculture in 1996/7 – 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution

	Nos Inv	Nos Pros	% Pros	Nos Conv
1996/7	195	12	6%	12
1997/8	180	17	9%	17
1998/9	199	13	7%	13

Table 11
Numbers of investigated major injuries to workers in the Energy/Extractive sector in 1996/7 – 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution

	Nos Inv	Nos Pros	% Pros	Nos Conv
1996/7	46	3	7%	3
1997/8	56	3	5%	3
1998/9	32	1	3%	1

Table 12
Numbers of investigated major injuries to workers in the Service sector in 1996/7 – 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution

	Nos Inv	Nos Pros	% Pros	Nos Conv
1996/7	462	17	5%	17
1997/8	471	24	5%	23
1998/9	479	36	9%	36

Table 13 sets out the levels of prosecution in different HSE areas following major injuries to workers. As in Tables 4 and 5 above dealing with deaths, this Table shows that there is considerable (though not so wide) divergence between different HSE areas. In 1998/9, 20% of major injuries in Wales (34 out of 169) resulted in a prosecution compared to 6% in North Midlands (9 out of 155). In most HSE areas, there were increases in the prosecution levels between 1996/7 and 1998/9. In South Yorkshire there was an increase from 2% of those investigated (3 out of 137) to 12% (18 out of 145). However, it is notable that in some areas there were considerable decreases in prosecution rates: in Northern Home Counties there was a reduction in prosecution levels from 17% of those injuries investigated (17 our of 100) to 10% of those investigated (12 out of 118), and in the Scotland West from 17% of those investigated (23 out of 134) to 9% (13 out of 148).

Table 13
Numbers of investigated major injuries to workers in 1996/7 and 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution, by HSE Area

	1996/7			1998/9
	Nos Inv	Nos Pros	% Pros	Nos Inv	Nos Pros	% Pros
Wales	146	15	10%	169	34	20%
Greater Manchester	91	7	8%	129	23	18%
East Midlands	99	11	11%	94	14	15%
South Yorkshire	137	3	2%	145	18	12%
West Midlands	135	9	6.00%	136	16	12%
South	104	5	5%	158	18	12%
South East	121	15	12%	124	14	11%
North West	114	6	5%	124	13	11%
N/thn Home Counties	100	17	17%	118	12	10%
Merseyside	88	4	5%	129	13	10%
Scotland East	141	5	4%	190	19	10.00%
Marches	193	18	9%	178	17	10%
South West	174	8	5%	129	12	9%
North East	141	9	6%	133	12	9%
Scotland West	134	23	17%	148	13	9%
East Anglia	160	7	4%	174	15	9%
Greater London	122	9	7%	134	11	8%
N & W Yorkshire	201	24	12%	173	14	8%
North Midlands	131	9	7%	155	9	6%

Table 14 sets out the levels of prosecution in different HSE areas following Major injuries to members of the public in 1998/9. This Table shows a considerable divergence between different HSE areas. Whilst, in Wales, 16% of all major injuries investigated resulted in a prosecution (7 out of 43), there were five HSE areas where no prosecutions followed investigations into major injuries: South West, North Midlands, South Yorkshire, Mereyside, North East, and Scotland West

Table 14
Numbers of investigated major injuries to members of the public in 1998/9 that resulted in prosecution

	Nos Inv	Nos Pros	% Pros	Nos Conv
Wales	43	7	16%	7
N/thn Home Counties	20	3	15%	3
Greater Manchester	30	4	13%	3
East Midlands	19	2	11%	2
Scotland East	39	4	10%	4
West Midlands	23	2	9%	2
South East	42	3	7%	3
South	34	2	6%	1
N & W Yorkshire	22	1	5%	1
East Anglia	46	2	4%	2
Greater London	47	2	4%	2
North West	28	1	4%	1
Marches	34	1	3%	1
South West	16	0	-	-
North Midlands	7	0	-	-
South Yorkshire	16	0	-	-
Merseyside	21	0	-	-
North East	29	0	-	-
Scotland West	33	0	-	-

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Page last updated on November 22, 2003