What is the deadliest UK industry to work in?

• First4Lawyers study analyses decade of workplace death data and reveals the construction industry to be the deadliest
• 382 people have died while at work in construction in the last 10 years
• 1267 people have died while at work in the UK since 2008
• Average age for workplace deaths is 48
• Forget Friday 13th - Tuesday 9th has killed the most amount of people at work across Britain since 2008
• Scotland is the unluckiest region

A study using a decade’s worth of workplace death data reveals the construction industry to be the deadliest, killing 382 people. Experts at First4Lawyers have analysed open data from the Health and Safety Executive, which looks at how many deaths have occurred in the workplace in the last 10 years.

Construction is Britain's deadliest industry

Of a total of 1,267 people who have died at work since 2008, 382 were construction industry workers

The average age for workplace deaths in construction is just 48 years old.

Working in service and agricultural industries is also pretty risky, accounting for 287 and 269 deaths respectively since 2008.

When looking at the average salary for working in the deadliest industries, construction comes out with an average salary of £36,702. The data was taken from an analysis of over 1 million job ads by Adzuna, and reveals that they get paid 35% above the average UK salary of £27,271, suggesting that perhaps it’s worth taking a risk for the extra danger money.

However, if you were to work as a farm worker in the third deadliest industry of agriculture, the lower salary of £19,390 may not be worth the risk for some.

Average salary of each industry

• Agriculture: £31,857
  Farm Manager: £35,113
  Farm Worker: £19,390
  Agricultural Technician: £25,374
• Construction: £36,702
  Building Site Manager: £42,041
  Builder: £34,491
  Scaffolder: £37,716
  Brick Layer: £29,209
• Extractive industries: £40,162
  Utilities: £37,678
  Oil and Gas Engineer: £30,584
  Electrician: £34,439
  Powerplant Engineer: £35,500
• Manufacturing: £31,832
  Manufacturing Engineer: £34,573
  Machine Operator: £21,751
  Warehouse Operative: £17,567
• Services: £30,597
  Police Officer: £31,000 (Payscale)
  Fireman: £32,447 (Payscale)
  Soldier: £28,346 (Adzuna)
• Water/Waste Management: £29,185
  Waste Operative: £26,176
  Waste Management: £30,924
  Recycling Operative: £19,863

(Figures according to Adzuna on 28/09/2017 at 3pm, except Police Officer and Fireman which are from Payscale)

2011 saw the most deaths in construction (52 people), however since then we have seen a slight decrease due to health and safety regulation improvements.

In 2016, 33 people died as a result of a workplace accident in the construction industry and 12 people have died so far in 2017.

Scotland has highest workplace death rate

When breaking the data down by region, 176 deaths occurred in Scotland, which is the highest across Britain.

35% of workplace deaths in Scotland occurred in the agricultural industry, with 61 people losing their lives at work in the last 10 years.  This makes agriculture the deadliest sector to work in for the Scots.

When you consider that the average salary for a farm worker (£19,390) is 41% below the average UK salary, some may not think it worth the extra risk. However, farm managers can earn on average £31,000 in the UK, while an agricultural technician can command £25,274.

Tuesday 9th is unluckier than Friday 13th

Friday the 13th is widely considered the unluckiest day of the year in Western superstition. Scientifically known as paraskavedekatriaphobia, 21 million people suffer from a fear of Friday 13th, costing businesses up to £585m, from shunned air travel to people not going into work.

However, data reveals that actually Tuesday 9th is a day to worry about! 

A total of 20 people have died on Tuesday 9th while at work, which is more than triple the figures for Friday 13th. In fact, just six people have died in the workplace on Friday 13th making it far less unlucky than many believe.

Comment

Andrew Cullwick, spokesperson for First4Lawyers, said: “Although we have seen a slight decrease in workplace deaths across all industries, we expected to see a lot less. It’s quite shocking to see that still to this day workplace accidents are turning into deaths, and construction remains the most dangerous industry, despite so many health and safety regulations being introduced.

"With working practices constantly being improved, there is no excuse for companies not obeying the law and fulfilling their business obligations.”

FULL STATS

• Number of workplace deaths each year, 2008-17
  2008:  126
  2009:  137
  2010:  138
  2011:  174
  2012:  135
  2013:  135
  2014:  120
  2015:  127
  2016:  121
  2017:  54
  Total: 1,267
  
  
• Number of workplace deaths by industry
  Agriculture:   269
  Construction: 382
  Extractive/Utilities:  52
  Manufacturing:  214
  Service:  287
  Water/Waste Management:  63
  Total: 1,267
  
• Average age of workplace deaths  (per industry)
  Agriculture:  55
  Construction:  45
  Extractive/Utilities:  49
  Manufacturing:  46
  Service:  47
  Water/Waste Management:  43
  Total:  48
  
  
• Deadliest month
  January:    102
  February:  108
  March:        89
  April:        108
  May:          97
  June:        128
  July:         120
  August:     112
  Sept:        107
  October:   112
  Nov:         103
  Dec:           81
  Total:    1,267
  
• Workplace deaths by region
  East Anglia:  112
  East Midlands:  117
  London:  91
  North East:  39
  North West:  162
  Scotland:  176
  South East:  131
  South West:  115
  Wales:  76
  West Midlands:  106
  Yorkshire & The Humber:  134
  Total:  1,267