Investigations
into Dangerous Occurrences
Certain sorts of incidents – whether they cause
an injury or not – are defined as ‘dangerous
occurrences’ (see Box). These dangerous occurrences
fall into two different categories – those that
result in death and injury and those that do not. In
order to avoid ‘double counting’, this section
only contains information on the latter category.
Table 30 shows that the level of investigation into
dangerous occurrences is higher than investigation levels
into major injuries – 31% compared to 19% in 2000/1.
However, when one considers the relatively low numbers
of reports of dangerous occurrences, and the fact that
the reports must be a strong indication of unsafe workplaces,
it is surprising that 70% of dangerous occurrences remain
uninvestigated. Further, whilst at first glance it appears
that there has been some – albeit relatively small
– increase in investigation rates over the five
year period, it is in fact clear that there was an increase
only in the last year under examination, 1999/2000 to
2000/20001; upto to 1999/2000, the investigation rate
had remained more or less constant.
Table 30
Total numbers of Reported and Investigated Dangerous
Occurrences to Workers (1996/7 – 2000/01)
|
Nos
Rep |
Nos
Inv |
%
Inv |
| 1996/7 |
3,593 |
925 |
26% |
| 1997/8 |
3998 |
973 |
24% |
| 1998/9 |
4,051 |
927 |
23% |
| 1999/00 |
4,194 |
1,077 |
26% |
| 2000/01 |
3,778 |
1,185 |
31% |
Table 31 looks at the levels of investigation in different
industries. Considering that these incidents are all
‘dangerous’, there is a surprising level
of inconsistency: in 1996/7, from 40% in Agriculture
to 20% in the Service Sector, and in 2000/01, from
47% in Agriculture to 17% in the Energy/Extractive
industries. Two notable changes have taken place in
the five years. The rate of investigation in the Service
sector rose dramatically from 19.8% in 1996/7 to 35.4%
in 2000/01 even though there were 99 more reported
incidents in 2000/01 than five years earlier. At the
same time, however, the number of dangerous occurrences
investigated in the Energy/Extractive industries declined
in this period by over 7% even though the same number
of dangerous occurrences were reported.
Table 31
Numbers of Reported and Investigated Dangerous Occurrences
by Industry, 1996/7 – 2000/01
|
1996/7
|
2000/01
|
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
| Agriculture |
53
|
21
|
39.60%
|
60
|
28
|
46.70%
|
| Manufacturing |
1,419
|
430
|
30.30%
|
1,072
|
381
|
35.50%
|
| Construction |
778
|
192
|
24.70%
|
1,208
|
342
|
28.30%
|
| Extractive/Energy |
395
|
97
|
24.60%
|
394
|
67
|
17.00%
|
| Service
Sector |
948
|
185
|
19.80%
|
1,035
|
366
|
35.40%
|
Table
32 considers the level of investigation in different
HSE areas in 2000/01. This ranged from 54% in the
Marches to 18% in Scotland East. Although Scotland
East had the highest number of reports – almost
double the number in the Marches – it still investigated
fewer dangerous occurrences than the Marches. It is
also notable that the South East had even fewer reports
than the Marches and investigated 50 fewer dangerous
occurrences.
Table 32
Numbers of Reported and Investigated Dangerous Occurrences
by Area (2000/01)
|
Nos
Rep |
Nos
Inv |
%
Inv |
| Marches |
157 |
84 |
53.50% |
| North
East |
170 |
88 |
51.80% |
| N
& W Yorkshire |
170 |
85 |
50.00% |
| South
Yorkshire |
169 |
78 |
46.20% |
| Merseyside |
171 |
67 |
39.20% |
| West
Midlands |
131 |
49 |
37.40% |
| East
Midlands |
147 |
50 |
34.00% |
| Scotland
West |
221 |
73 |
33.00% |
| South
|
216 |
69 |
31.90% |
| Greater
Manchester |
152 |
49 |
32.20% |
| North
West |
131 |
40 |
30.50% |
| Wales |
237 |
71 |
30.00% |
| South
West |
328 |
89 |
27.10% |
| East
Anglia |
175 |
43 |
24.60% |
| N/thn
Home Counties |
170 |
43 |
25.30% |
| North
Midlands |
242 |
56 |
23.10% |
| South
East |
154 |
31 |
20.10% |
| Greater
London |
328 |
65 |
19.80% |
| Scotland
East |
309 |
55 |
17.80% |
Table 33 looks at the level of investigation of different
‘types’ of dangerous occurrences in 2000/01.
Apart from incidents involving the ‘movement
of quarry tips’, only half or less of the reported
injuries in all the other categories of dangerous
incidents were investigated. It is particularly notable
that 73 out of 128 ‘building collapses’,
146 of 224 ‘plant fire and explosions’,
and 179 out of 230 ‘flammable liquid releases’
were not investigated.
Table 33
Numbers of Reported and Investigated Dangerous Occurrences
by ‘Type’ (2000/01)
|
Nos
Rep |
Nos
Inv |
%
Inv |
| Marches |
157 |
84 |
53.50% |
| North
East |
170 |
88 |
51.80% |
| N
& W Yorkshire |
170 |
85 |
50.00% |
| South
Yorkshire |
169 |
78 |
46.20% |
| Merseyside |
171 |
67 |
39.20% |
| West
Midlands |
131 |
49 |
37.40% |
| East
Midlands |
147 |
50 |
34.00% |
| Scotland
West |
221 |
73 |
33.00% |
| South
|
216 |
69 |
31.90% |
| Greater
Manchester |
152 |
49 |
32.20% |
| North
West |
131 |
40 |
30.50% |
| Wales |
237 |
71 |
30.00% |
| South
West |
328 |
89 |
27.10% |
| East
Anglia |
175 |
43 |
24.60% |
| N/thn
Home Counties |
170 |
43 |
25.30% |
| North
Midlands |
242 |
56 |
23.10% |
| South
East |
154 |
31 |
20.10% |
| Greater
London |
328 |
65 |
19.80% |
| Scotland
East |
309 |
55 |
17.80% |
Table 34 compares 14 of the 29 types of dangerous
occurrences in different industries in 2000/01. It
is notable that there are some wide divergences. For
example, both the Agricultural sector and the Extractive
industry sector had 28 reports of ‘Contact of
Machine with electricity’ and whilst 19 of the
28 were investigated in one sector (Agriculture),
none were investigated in the other (Enregy/Extractive
sector).
Table 34
Numbers of Reported and Investigated Dangerous Industries
by Industry, (2000/01)
|
Agriculture
|
Construction
|
Manufacturing
|
Energy/Extractive
|
Service Sector
|
| |
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
| Failure
of Lifting Machinery |
14
|
3
|
21%
|
230
|
83
|
36%
|
454
|
170
|
37%
|
43
|
7
|
16%
|
203
|
89
|
44%
|
| Failure
of Closed Vessel |
0
|
0
|
-
|
13
|
4
|
31%
|
80
|
28
|
35%
|
14
|
4
|
29%
|
44
|
19
|
43%
|
| Failure
of Freight Container |
0
|
0
|
-
|
2
|
1
|
50%
|
12
|
4
|
33%
|
2
|
0
|
0%
|
10
|
2
|
20%
|
| Contact
of Machine with Electricity |
28
|
19
|
68%
|
197
|
52
|
27%
|
20
|
6
|
30%
|
28
|
0
|
0%
|
46
|
21
|
46%
|
| Fire
from short circuit |
3
|
1
|
33%
|
129
|
31
|
24%
|
72
|
22
|
30%
|
50
|
8
|
16%
|
74
|
23
|
31%
|
| Incident
from Explosives |
0
|
0
|
-
|
2
|
0
|
0%
|
15
|
6
|
40%
|
28
|
9
|
32%
|
10
|
2
|
20%
|
| Release
of Biological Agent |
0
|
0
|
-
|
14
|
7
|
50%
|
12
|
2
|
16%
|
5
|
0
|
0%
|
95
|
29
|
31%
|
| Radiation
Equipment Failure |
0
|
0
|
-
|
2
|
0
|
0%
|
4
|
2
|
50%
|
10
|
0
|
0%
|
99
|
46
|
47%
|
| Scaffold
Collapse |
0
|
0
|
-
|
48
|
19
|
40%
|
3
|
0
|
0%
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
9
|
0
|
0%
|
| Failure
of Pipeline |
0
|
0
|
-
|
277
|
52
|
19%
|
26
|
8
|
31%
|
77
|
3
|
4%
|
39
|
8
|
21%
|
| Building
Collapse |
0
|
0
|
-
|
62
|
33
|
53%
|
30
|
8
|
27%
|
3
|
0
|
0%
|
33
|
14
|
42%
|
| Plant
Explosion/fire |
3
|
1
|
33%
|
16
|
3
|
19%
|
126
|
55
|
44%
|
17
|
4
|
24%
|
59
|
15
|
26%
|
| Flammable
Liquid Release |
2
|
0
|
0%
|
97
|
21
|
22%
|
59
|
21
|
36%
|
39
|
2
|
5%
|
33
|
7
|
21%
|
| Dangerous
Substance |
7
|
4
|
57%
|
103
|
32
|
31%
|
138
|
40
|
29%
|
25
|
6
|
24%
|
227
|
71
|
3%
|
Table
32 above showed that whilst in the Marches, FOD inspectors
investigated 84 out of 157 reports (54%), in Scotland
East they inspected only 55 out of 309 (18%) reports.
Table 35 examines these two areas in further detail
to determine which types of dangerous occurrences
in these two areas were not investigated. It is interesting
that, for example, in Marches 11 out of 17 reports
of ‘Machinery making contact with electricity’
were investigated, whilst in Scotland East only 3
out of 40 of these incidents were investigated. And
whilst Marches investigated 9 out to 19 reports of
‘ire or explosions from short circuit’,
Scotland East only investigated 5 out of 23. There
was one report of a scaffold collapse in Scotland
East but this was not investigated.
Table 35
Numbers of Reported and Investigated Dangerous Occurrences
in Marches and in Scotland East (2000/01)
|
Marches
|
Scotland
|
|
Nos Rep
|
Nos Inv
|
% Inv
|
Nos Rep
|
Nos Inv
|
% Inv
|
| Failure of Lifting Machinery |
41
|
27
|
66%
|
72
|
15
|
21%
|
| Failure of Closed Vessel |
5
|
3
|
60%
|
13
|
4
|
31%
|
| Contact of Machine with Electricity |
17
|
11
|
65%
|
40
|
3
|
8%
|
| Fire or Explosion from short circuit |
19
|
9
|
47%
|
23
|
5
|
22%
|
| Incident from use of Explosives |
1
|
1
|
100%
|
5
|
0
|
0%
|
| Release of Biological Agent |
1
|
1
|
100%
|
3
|
0
|
0%
|
| Failure of Breathing Apparatus |
5
|
4
|
80%
|
9
|
5
|
56%
|
| Failure of Pipeline |
12
|
6
|
50%
|
62
|
4
|
7%
|
| Building Collapse |
3
|
2
|
67%
|
7
|
2
|
29%
|
| Explosion Blast resulting in Injury |
16
|
4
|
25%
|
18
|
4
|
22%
|
| Flammable Liquid Release |
5
|
1
|
20%
|
17
|
3
|
18%
|
| Dangerous Substance |
27
|
15
|
56%
|
33
|
9
|
27%
|
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