Safesmart and Wonde partnership

We are very pleased to announce our new partnership with Wonde, one that will enable schools to seamlessly connect and synchronise their Smartlog® data with their management information system (MIS).

Wonde are data management specialists, trusted by over 25,000 schools across the globe in the provision of powerful, highly secure, easy-to-use data management solutions. They act as a protective layer between a school’s MIS and what schools share with third party applications.

Wonde integrates seamlessly with a school’s MIS to ensure data is securely maintained, managed and accessible. Currently this data transfer is done on an ad-hoc basis using various data formats and possibly insecure transfer methods. Using Wonde gives a secure, easy and continuously updated connection between a school and their approved applications, ensuring only relevant, up-to-date and accurate data is shared. 

Schools can be confident data is secure, and students and staff are supported in their learning journey.

“Wonde are pleased to be supporting Safesmart in their mission to ensure safer working environments for students and staff across the UK. Safesmart, like Wonde, are focused on making everyday life easier for schools and by eliminating the need for manual input, schools have more streamlined health and safety processes that comply with current health and safety legislations. With both Safesmart and Wonde, schools can be confident they can operate efficiently, safely and securely.”
Jon Coleman
CCO and Co-Founder at Wonde

For more information, visit: www.wonde.com

HSE releases workplace fatality figures for 2021/22

A total of 123 workers were killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2021/22, which is a 15% decrease from the previous year, newly released Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show.

According to the latest RIDDOR figures, workplace fatalities have continued their pre-pandemic downward trend, with the latest figures well below the 2016 – 2021 five year average of 136 fatalities.

The drop in fatalities is especially promising, due to the data covering the period April 2021 to March 2022, during which time most COVID-19 restrictions were removed and the economy began returning to normal.

The most common cause of fatal injuries continues to be falls from height (29), being struck by a moving vehicle (23) and being struck by a moving object (18), which all account for over half of the fatalities.

When breaking down according to sector, around a quarter (30) of fatalities occurred in the construction industry, 22 fatalities in the manufacturing sector, and 22 in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector – which is similar distribution to previous years.

There remains a disproportionate risk to older workers; with around a quarter (29) of fatal injuries involving workers aged 60+, although they only make up around 11% of the workforce. Furthermore, when analysing the data further, the rate of fatalities for workers aged 65+ is around 4 times that of the average rate across all age groups.

Also, there was a 27% increase in workplace fatal injuries to members of the public as a result of a work-related incident, with 80 fatalities in 2021/22 down from 63 last year.


Sources

HSE (2022) ‘Workplace fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2022’. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/fatalinjuries.pdf (accessed: 12/07/2022)

HSE (2022) ‘Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain’. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm (accessed: 12/07/2022)

HSE 2020/21 health & safety at work statistics: The 5 key takeaways

The HSE have released the annual health and safety figures for the year 2020/2021, and here are the 5 key takeaways.

1. Because of COVID-19, no statistics on working days lost and economic costs are included in this year’s statistics.

Because of the discontinuity in collecting statistics presented by COVID-19 measures such as furlough, the HSE have decided to omit statistics on working days lost and their associated economic costs.

Instead, they have released a 29-page technical report on how the pandemic has affected the collection and interpretation of the latest health & safety statistics, which can be found on: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/coronavirus/covid-19.pdf

However, data on how many workers were directly affected by the coronavirus illness is included (see number 2).

2. New and long-standing infectious disease (virus, bacteria) illnesses have more than tripled

After going up by 21% to 1.63 million in 19/20, new and long-standing illnesses have increased slightly to 1.66 million this year.

Significantly, infectious disease (virus, bacteria) illnesses more than tripled, from 30,000 cases in 19/20 to 93,000 cases this year. According to the HSE, the cases are all for COVID-19 which respondents believe may have been from exposure to coronavirus at work.

However, only 32,110 COVID-19 cases were reported to Enforcing Authorities in 2020/21 which employers believed may be caused by exposure to coronavirus at work.

Positively, whilst stress, depression or anxiety cases went up a worrying 37% in 19/20, this year they have decreased by around 2,000 cases; and in other positive news, work-related musculoskeletal disorder cases fell for a third consecutive year, decreasing by 23,000 cases to 470,000.

3. Workplace fatalities have returned above the 5-year average

After a record low of workplace fatalities last year (113), deaths have climbed to 142 – above the 16/17 to 20/21 5-year average of 136.

The most common cause of fatal injuries continues to be falls from height (35), followed by being struck by a moving vehicle (25) and being struck by a moving object (17), which altogether account for more than half of the fatalities.

4. Serious injuries have had their largest yearly decrease in 40 years:

Self-reported non-fatal injuries have reduced by an estimated 250,000 cases (36%), with slips, trips and falls accounting for 33% of these cases and manual handling accounting for 18%.

There was also a notable reduction in serious workplace injuries this year; with 51,211 employee non-fatal injuries reported by employers to RIDDOR – which is over 15,000 cases less than 2019/20.

This represents the largest yearly drop in RIDDOR-reported injuries since 1980.

5. HSE prosecutions are down more than 40%

After a significant drop in HSE (and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Scotland) notices, prosecutions and fines in 2019/20, this year saw prosecutions fall by 36% and total fines fall by 23%.

The construction industry, which suffered the most prosecutions last year (42%), saw prosecutions more than halve this year; although it still remains the sector with the highest prosecutions (37%).

On the other hand, the manufacturing industry had the second most prosecutions (32%), but remains the sector with the highest fine total (£8 million) – half of its total fines in 19/20.


Bibliography

HSE (2021) ‘Health and safety statistics’. Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/ (accessed: 17/12/2021)

HSE (2021) ‘Workplace fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2021’. Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/fatalinjuries.pdf (accessed: 20/12/2021)

HSE (2021) ‘Kinds of accident statistics in Great Britain, 2021’. Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causinj/kinds-of-accident.pdf (accessed: 20/12/2021)

HSE (2021) ‘Historical picture statistics in Great Britain, 2021 – trends in work-related ill health and workplace injury’. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/history/historical-picture.pdf (accessed: 20/12/2021)

HSE (2021) ‘Enforcement statistics in Great Britain, 2021’. Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/enforcement.pdf (accessed: 20/12/2021)

HSE (2021) ‘LFS – Labour Force Survey – Self-reported work-related ill health and workplace injuries: Index of LFS tables’. Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/lfs/index.htm#illness (accessed: 17/12/2021)

HSE (2021) Technical Report: The Impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the interpretation of Health and Safety Statistics 2020/21 https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/adhoc-analysis/covid19-impact19-20.pdf (accessed 17/12/2021)

HSE releases workplace fatality figures for 2020/21

A total of 142 workers were killed at work in Great Britain in 2020/21, which is a 26% increase (29 deaths) from the previous year, newly released HSE figures show.

However, the number of fatalities has remained level in recent years – the average annual number of workers killed at work over the five years from 2016/17 to 2020/21 is 136, putting this year’s numbers slightly above average.

The most common cause of fatal injuries continues to be falls from height (35), followed by being struck by a moving vehicle (25) and being struck by a moving object (17), which all account for more than half of the fatalities.

One notable finding was the disproportionate risks to older workers; with around 30% (41) of fatal injuries involving workers aged 60+, even though they only make up around 11% of the workforce.

In another finding, 38% of worker fatal injuries were to self-employed workers even though they only make up 16% of workers. In comparison, the proportion of fatal injuries to self-employed workers is higher in 2020/21 than in the 5-year period from 2016/17 to 2020/21, where 31% of fatal injuries were to self-employed workers.

A more positive finding saw a 43% decrease in workplace fatal injuries to members of the public as a result of a work-related incident, with 60 fatalities in 2020/21 compared to 106 in 2019/20.


Sources

HSE (2021) ‘Workplace fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2021’. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/fatalinjuries.pdf (accessed: 13/07/2021)

HSE (2021) ‘HSE releases annual workplace fatality figures for 2020/21’. Available at: https://press.hse.gov.uk/2021/07/07/hse-releases-annual-workplace-fatality-figures-for-2020-21/ (accessed: 13/07/2021)

HSE 2019/20 health & safety at work statistics: The 5 key takeaways

The HSE have released the annual health and safety figures for the year 2019/2020, and here are the 5 key takeaways.

Please note that this report falls largely outside the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public life (the first nationwide lockdown began 23rd March). Therefore findings should not be mainly attributed as to being the results of the pandemic.

1. Worker stress, depression or anxiety cases are up 37% from last year:

The cases for new and long-standing illnesses last year totalled 1.35 million, and this year’s figure is up a significant 21% to 1.63 million.

However, the most significant news: stress, depression or anxiety cases have gone up by a worrying 37% and are now the primary illness type (51%) of all new and long-standing illness cases (they made up 45% of cases last year). Stress, depression or anxiety are also responsible for an estimated 17.9 million working days lost this year – a massive increase of 40% from last year.

Overall, working days lost due to illness have gone up by 9 million (a 39% increase) from last year to 32.5 million – the highest number since 2001/02.

However, the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorder cases (480,000) fell by around 18,000 cases compared to 18/19, although new incidents were 14,000 more than last year.

2. Infectious disease cases had not increased by the end of March:

In the latest Labour Force Survey, work-related infectious disease (virus, bacteria) incidents remain unchanged from last year at around 24,000 cases, below the 2017 to 2019 3-year average of just over 30,000 cases. It must be noted again that the survey only relates to ill-health cases during the 12-month period before March this year.

However with the first COVID-19 case in the UK confirmed on 31 January, this is a notable finding.

3. Workplace fatalities reached a record low:

There were 111 worker (or employees/self-employed) fatalities in 19/20 – the lowest figure ever reported by RIDDOR since records began in 1974. The rate of fatal injuries also fell to a record low of 0.34 per 100,000 workers.

Whilst falls from height remain the biggest cause of death to workers (26%), the overall fall in fatalities continues an ongoing positive downward trend.

4. There are less serious injuries occurring at work, but more people are getting injured:

This year there were 4,937 less non-fatal injuries than last year for the lowest recorded figure from RIDDOR since 1985. Slips, trips or falls remain the biggest cause of RIDDOR reported injuries (29%).

However, this contrasts with Labour Force Survey statistics reporting 112,000 more non-fatal workplace injuries than last year, reaching the highest figure since 2010/11 with an estimated 693,000 cases this year.

Additionally, an estimated 6.3 million days were lost due to workplace injury – an increase of 1.6 million (34%) from last year.

This means that an estimated 38.8 million working days this year were lost due to work-related ill-health and non-fatal injuries; of which, at 10.6 million days more than 2018/19 is the largest single-year change on record.

5. HSE notices, prosecutions and fines fell significantly this year

2019/20 saw a 21% fall in notices issued by enforcing bodies, a 13% & 12% drop in prosecutions & convictions respectively by the HSE (and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Scotland), and a 34% drop in fines.

The construction industry remained the sector with the most convictions (42% of all convictions), but manufacturing organisations were responsible for 45% of all fines received (£16 million) whilst only responsible for 27% of convictions.


Bibliography

HSE (2020) ‘Health and safety statistics’. Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/ (accessed: 24/11/2020)

HSE (2020) ‘Workplace fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2020’. Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/fatalinjuries.pdf (accessed: 24/11/2020)

HSE (2020) ‘Kinds of accident statistics in Great Britain, 2020’. Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causinj/kinds-of-accident.pdf (accessed: 24/11/2020)

HSE (2020) ‘Historical picture statistics in Great Britain, 2020 – trends in work-related ill health and workplace injury’. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/history/historical-picture.pdf (accessed: 24/11/2020)

HSE (2020) ‘Enforcement statistics in Great Britain, 2020’. Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/enforcement.pdf

HSE (2020) ‘LFS – Labour Force Survey – Self-reported work-related ill health and workplace injuries: Index of LFS tables’. Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/lfs/index.htm#illness (accessed: 24/11/2020)

HSE (2020) Potential impact of COVID-19 on HSE’s main statistical data sources in 2019/20 https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/adhoc-analysis/covid19-impact19-20.pdf (accessed 24/11/2020)

Document Library facility now available on Smartlog®

As today marks the beginning of a month-long lockdown, and for some, the return to homeworking, we are very pleased to announce the brand-new release of a Document Library facility on Smartlog.

This new feature will allow for the easy storage, management and distribution of policies, procedures and other important files within your entire organisation — a crucial solution to digitalising your health and safety compliance during this tumultuous period for businesses and institutions everywhere.

Within this facility, users will be able to:

  • Share any important documents to specific locations, departments, person/s
  • Manage their document library centrally — a secure platform for employees to access important files when they need to
  • Set any documents to be distributed weekly, monthly, annually or any custom period of choice
  • Keep a closer eye on compliance with date and timestamped read-receipts — a read deadline of any length can be set, with an escalation feature for overdue assignments
  • Create qualifying questions to ‘pass’ or confirm that the assignment has been completed — from a simple confirmation to an in-depth assessment
  • Like other facilities on Smartlog, users can freely export reports for their own manual records if they wish.

For current Smartlog 5 customers, the Document Library is accessible completely free of charge*, along with unlimited access to our brand new Fire Risk Assessment Template, COVID-19 Track and Trace facility, and other exciting features that we have added in just the last few months.

*Included within existing annual licence price

To book a demo of the Document Library for your organisation or to request more information about Smartlog, visit our contact page or send us your query to info@safesmart.co.uk

Download the new Smartlog® iOS App

A new updated Smartlog® app for iOS devices is now available for free download on the App store. Operating only on devices running iOS 13.0 and above (iPhone 6S and later models), the new release provides the following features: 

  • complete and sign off checks & tests offline
  • create, complete and review risk assessments offline
  • complete your e-learning (requires an internet connection)
  • view your organisation’s compliance across all areas
  • submit log entries offline
  • full access to the accident reporting facility — report or view accident & incident submissions
  • asset management — manually scan & review your inventory, and action outstanding certification

The app takes full advantage of the technological capabilities of smartphone and tablet devices in order to enhance the use of Smartlog, with barcode scanning via camera and NFC support in the asset management facility, and the ability to attach media more seamlessly within the risk assessment and accident reporting facilities.

The previous iOS app is no longer appearing on the App store or receiving development updates, so users are recommended to uninstall the old one and replace it with the new up-to-date release as soon as possible.

To download the app, click here or find it listed as ‘Smartlog by Safesmart’ in the App Store

New: Fire Risk Assessment Template

After months of hard work by our Professional Services and Smartlog Development team, we are pleased and excited to announce that we are launching our new fire risk assessment template.

We have added some new features and changes, including:

  • Risk rating
  • Real-time compliance pie chart
  • Design and layout has been updated
  • Additional information to support the HSE 5-step risk assessment process
  • Fire Service access
  • Creation of actions — check & test
  • Add a site plan
  • Improved PDF layout when exporting/printing

The new template is based on the PAS 79 (Publicly Available Specification-79) methodology for undertaking a fire risk assessment to identify the risk of fire and the consequences if one was to occur.

PAS 79 was produced by the British Standards Institute and is recommended by the Institution of Fire Engineers and the Northern Ireland Fire Safety Panel.

If you have arranged a fire risk assessment to be completed by one of our fire risk assessors, they will be now be using the new fire risk assessment (unless your organisation has a bespoke template).

If you have any questions, or would like to activate the new fire risk assessment now, please contact your Account Manager, and they will be happy to assist you.

Smartlog® App for Android

What’s New?

We have now released a Smartlog® application for Android devices, which opens up a new dimension for integrating the compliance management system into your organisation’s health and safety processes.

Perhaps most notably, all but one of Smartlog’s modules can now be engaged with offline – something that was only possible with the risk assessment and checks & tests modules in the iOS App. This capability allows risk assessments to be carried out and reviewed even in remote areas with no internet access, accident reports to be drafted without the interruption of a faulty connection, and access to view your asset database with no network coverage.

Upon re-connection, you can sync your device to the Smartlog sever, and everything is updated and timestamped to provide extra clarity in the event of an audit.

Media Integration

We have aimed to utilise the technological capabilities of smartphone and tablet devices in order to enhance the use of Smartlog.

Some industries are more fast-paced than others and require a system that users can interact with efficiently, and one that supports instant and precise communication – and this app does exactly that.

Barcode scanning and NFC support are just two new features of the Smartlog application (more app information here), enabling asset monitoring to become a quicker and more fluid operation.

Health and safety personnel can immediately attach videos or photos to give greater detail to their risk assessment findings, and all employees can regularly log premises hazards on the spot and to greater visual detail and send out an alert to their colleagues – and potentially prevent accidents.

Health & Safety Culture

Along with Smartlog’s desktop features, this app has been created in order to seamlessly integrate the system into the daily operations of your fire and health & safety compliance, and encourage a culture of personal safety and collective responsibility.

The Smartlog® app for Android devices can be downloaded on: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.safesmart.android.smartlog

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