Industrial
Disease
Certain forms of occupational diseases must be reported
to the Health and Safety Executive. These are set out
in the box below.
Table 36 shows that the level of investigation throughout
Britain has increased from 20.6% in 1996/7 to 44.6%
in 2000/01 - even though the total number of reports
increased from 1923 to 2396 in the same period. The
actual numbers of investigations increased from 397
to 1069 – almost a 300% rise. However there are
wide disparities in different areas from 68.6% in West
Midlands to 14.4% in the North East.
Table 36
Numbers of Reported and Investigated Industrial Diseases
by HSE Area (1996/7 – 2000/01)
|
1996/97
|
2000/01
|
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
| West
Midlands |
153
|
66
|
43.10%
|
194
|
133
|
68.60%
|
| North
West |
82
|
41
|
50.00%
|
194
|
132
|
68.00%
|
| North
Midlands |
112
|
7
|
6.25%
|
174
|
111
|
63.80%
|
| N/thn
Home Counties |
50
|
13
|
26.00%
|
86
|
52
|
60.50%
|
| N
& W Yorkshire |
100
|
34
|
34.00%
|
119
|
72
|
60.50%
|
| East
Midlands |
66
|
13
|
19.70%
|
63
|
37
|
58.70%
|
| Marches |
90
|
10
|
11.10%
|
77
|
45
|
58.40%
|
| South
|
92
|
8
|
8.70%
|
155
|
82
|
52.90%
|
| East
Anglia |
112
|
4
|
3.60%
|
117
|
60
|
51.30%
|
| Merseyside |
120
|
7
|
5.80%
|
44
|
22
|
50.00%
|
| South
East |
89
|
8
|
9.00%
|
94
|
45
|
47.90%
|
| South
West |
182
|
50
|
27.50%
|
167
|
79
|
47.30%
|
| Greater
London |
77
|
21
|
27.30%
|
92
|
32
|
34.80%
|
| Scotland
East |
87
|
24
|
27.60%
|
118
|
34
|
28.80%
|
| Wales |
87
|
32
|
36.80%
|
119
|
34
|
28.60%
|
| Greater
Manchester |
43
|
11
|
25.60%
|
144
|
29
|
20.10%
|
| Scotland
West |
55
|
9
|
16.40%
|
87
|
16
|
18.40%
|
| South
Yorkshire |
164
|
11
|
6.70%
|
116
|
20
|
17.20%
|
| North
East |
162
|
28
|
17.30%
|
236
|
34
|
14.40%
|
Table
37 shows rates of investigation of reported cases
of industrial diseases by industry over the five year
period. It is clear from this that there have been
increases in rates of investigation across all industries
during this period – with the exception of the
Extractive industries, where 16.5% of reported cases
were investigated in 2000/01, compared to 20% five
years earlier. The rate of investigation increased
over four-fold in Manufacturing. The Table also indicates
disparities in the levels of investigation between
different industries. Investigation levels range from
62.5% in Agriculture to 16.5% in the Extractive industries.
Table 37
Numbers of Reported and Investigated Industrial Diseases
by Industry (1996/7 – 2000/01)
|
1996/97
|
2000/01
|
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
%
Inv
|
| Agriculture |
30
|
12
|
40%
|
16
|
10
|
62.50%
|
| Manufacturing |
681
|
96
|
14.20%
|
642
|
366
|
57.80%
|
| Construction |
121
|
41
|
33.90%
|
194
|
96
|
49.50%
|
| Extractive/Energy |
1,051
|
240
|
22.80%
|
1,289
|
555
|
43%
|
| Service
Sector |
40
|
8
|
20%
|
255
|
42
|
16.50%
|
|
1,923
|
397
|
20.70%
|
2,396
|
1,069
|
44.80%
|
Table
38 looks at the level of investigation of different
types of industrial disease in 2000/01. It shows that
significant numbers of the most common industrial
diseases were not investigated including 590 of 889
‘Hand arm vibrations’, 221 of the 477 cases
of ‘occupational dermatitis’, and 89 of
the 161 cases of ‘carpel tunnel syndrome’.
It is also notable that 24 cases of ‘infection’,
7 cases of ‘tuberculosis’, 4 cases of ‘hepatitis’
and 6 cases of ‘chrome ulceration’ were
not investigated.
Table 38: Numbers of Reported and
investigated Industrial Diseases by ‘Type’
(2000/01)
|
Nos
Rep |
Nos
Inv |
%
Inv |
| Hand
Arm Vibration |
889 |
299 |
33.60% |
| Occupational
dermatitis |
477 |
256 |
53.70% |
| Inflamed
Hand Tendons |
385 |
209 |
54.30% |
| Cramps |
181 |
74 |
40.90% |
| Carpal
tunnel syndrome |
161 |
72 |
44.70% |
| Occupational
asthma |
93 |
52 |
55.90% |
| Infection |
53 |
29 |
54.70% |
| Beat
Elbow |
33 |
15 |
45.50% |
| Beat
Knee |
19 |
6 |
31.60% |
| Tuberculosis |
16 |
9 |
56.30% |
| Legionellosis |
14 |
10 |
71.40% |
| Leptospirosis |
12 |
7 |
58.30% |
| Poisoning |
10 |
5 |
50.00% |
| Chrome
ulceration |
10 |
4 |
40.00% |
| Mesothelioma |
8 |
3 |
37.50% |
| Hepatitis |
7 |
3 |
42.90% |
| Pneumoconiosis |
6 |
1 |
16.70% |
| Occupational
Dermatitis |
5 |
2 |
40% |
| Decompression
Illness |
4 |
4 |
100% |
| Asbestosis |
4 |
3 |
75.00% |
| Lyme
disease |
3 |
1 |
33.30% |
| Beat
Hand |
1 |
1 |
100% |
| Anthrax |
1 |
1 |
100% |
| Chlamydiosis |
1 |
1 |
100% |
| Q
fever |
1 |
1 |
100% |
| Folliculitis |
1 |
0 |
0% |
| Extrinsic
alveolitis |
1 |
1 |
100% |
Table 39 looks in further detail at the levels of
investigation into industrial diseases in South Yorkshire
and North East, which were the two HSE areas with
the lowest investigation rates. This shows that in
both areas, large numbers of ‘Hand Arm Vibrations’
and cases of ‘Occupational Dermatitis’ were
not investigated.
Table 39
Numbers of Reported and Investigated Industrial Diseases
by ‘Type’, (2000/01).
|
South
Yorkshire
|
North
East
|
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
Nos
Rep
|
Nos
Inv
|
| Cramp |
6
|
0
|
14
|
4
|
| Beat
Knee |
0
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
| Beat
Elbow |
1
|
1
|
6
|
2
|
| Inflamed
Hand Tendons |
10
|
1
|
30
|
7
|
| Carpal
tunnel syndrome |
5
|
1
|
12
|
2
|
| Hand
Arm Vibration |
59
|
8
|
146
|
6
|
| Legionellosis |
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
| Leptospirosis |
1
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
| Infection |
2
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
| Chrome
ulceration |
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Asbestosis |
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
| Occupational
Dermatitis |
27
|
7
|
19
|
6
|
| Extrinsic
Alveolitis |
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
| Occupational
asthma |
1
|
0
|
3
|
2
|
To see previous section of the Chapter
To
go back to Chapter Index
To
go back to Report index
Categories
of Major Injury
| Code |
Description |
| Decompression Illness |
Decompression Illness |
| Cramps |
Cramp of the hand or forearm due to repetitive
movements |
| Beat Hand |
Subcutaneous cellulitis of the hand (beat hand) |
| Beat Knee |
Bursitis or subcutaneous cellulitis arising
at or about the knee due to severe or prolonged
external friction |
| Beat Elbow |
Bursitis or subcutaneous cellulitis arising
at or about the elbow due to severe or prolonged
external friction or pressure at or about the
elbow (beat elbow) |
| Inflamed Hand Tendons |
Traumatic inflammation of the tendons of the
hand or forearm or of the associated tendon sheaths |
| Carpal tunnel syndrome |
Carpal tunnel syndrome |
| Hand Arm Vibration |
Hand-arm vibration syndrome, including bibration
white finger |
| Anthrax |
Anthrax |
| chlamydiosis |
Avian chlamydiosis. Ovine chlamydiosis |
| Hepatitis |
Hepatitis |
| Legionellosis |
Legionellosis |
| Leptospirosis |
Leptospirosis |
| Lyme disease |
Lyme disease |
| Q fever |
Q fever |
| Tuberculosis |
Tuberculosis |
| Infection |
Any infection reliably attribuTable to the performance
of the work |
| Folliculitis |
Folliculitis, associated with exposure to mineral
oil, tar, pitch or arsenic |
| Pneumoconiosis |
Pneumoconiosis (excluding asbestos) |
| Mesothelioma |
Mesothelioma |
| Asbestosis |
Asbestos |
| Occupational dermatitis |
Occupational dermatitis |
| Extrinsic alveolitis |
Extrinsic alveolitis (including farmer's lung) |
| Occupational asthma |
Occupational asthma |
| Poisoning |
Poisoning by Lead, Benzene, phosphorous, ethyl
oxide or oxides of Nitrogen |
| Chrome ulceration |
Chrome ulceration of the nose or throat |
| Occupational Dermatitis |
Occupational Dermatitis |
|
