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The number of work-related accidents and illness increased last year after more than five years of decline.
Those claiming short-term incapacity benefit increased by 10% in 2019 - a rise that can’t just be attributed to an increase in the overall number of people in employment.
It has prompted the Health and Safety Inspectorate - which has just published its delayed annual report for 2019 - to call on all islanders to do their bit to keep workplaces safe.
In the report, the head of Jersey’s independent regulator for work-related health and safety, Tammy Fage writes: “Unfortunately 2019 saw the first real increase in claims for Short-Term Incapacity Allowance for both work-related accidents and ill health for a number of years.
“While Jersey’s labour market report of December 2019 reported that the total number of jobs in the economy was the highest recorded to date, and represented an annual increase of 1.1%, this cannot, on its own account for a 10% increase in STIA claims."
Pictured: Most workplace accidents happen on building sites.
She continues: “Even before covid-19 and the unknown certainties surrounding Brexit, the world and the approach to work and the workplace itself continues to change. It is important that everybody plays their part in ensuring that the real risks to health and safety from working activities are properly controlled, and people are protected.
“While the inspectorate remains committed to using a broad range of regulatory tools, and bringing together different interventions, to achieve the most impact and improve standards in areas where the risks are highest, we can’t act alone. Everyone has a part to play, including employers, employees, professional bodies and others.”
Of the 1,482 STIA claims, which is the only accurate measure of the number of work-place accidents and illness in Jersey, 21% related to construction, 12% concerned retail, wholesale and the motor trade, 12% concerned the civil service, and 10% hotel and restaurants.
Over the course of the year, the HSI carried out 264 proactive inspections, a significant increase over previous years. 85% of these related to the construction industry. It also had a number of targeted initiatives, including raising awareness of the safety requirements of hotel windows following a death in St. Helier in 2018.
The Inspectorate also carried out 68 investigations into serious work-related accidents and incidents in 2019 and issued 56 enforcement notices. It also completed seven prosecutions.
Pictured: The Health and Safety Inspectorate were involved with seven prosecutions in 2019.
This included the States Employment Board being fined £60,000 after an engineer seriously injured his hand after it became trapped in a water pump which had been removed from a sump at the States laundry at Five Oaks.
Other prosecutions included Sonnic Solutions being fined £40,000 for failing to ensure the safety of employees following an accident in which a worker was injured when he fell from the roof of a property; and Jubilee Scaffolding Ltd being fined £40,000 for failing to identify the presence of a live 400v overhead electric cable running into a building, which they attached to their scaffold with a metal clip.
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