North Warwickshire has the highest rate of workplace injuries in Britain at more than four times the national average, new figures reveal.
1,060 injuries for every 100,000 workers in the area were reported to the Health and Safety Executive in 2016/17.
In Britain overall, 263 injuries were reported for every 100,000 workers in 2016/17. North Warwickshire has the highest injury rate out of 381 local authorities in Britain. It far outstrips the second highest rate, East Cambridgeshire, with 805 injuries for every 100,000 workers.
“There are various factors which might contribute to a high rate of injury, such as a prevalence of high-risk industries locally,” explained Brett Dixon, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) a national not-for-profit group which represents people suffering needless injuries.
“The good news is that no workers were killed in the area and there has been a national long-term downward trend in the rate of both injuries and deaths in workplaces. Our concern is that safeguards which protect workers are not unravelled by the Brexit process,” he said.
Workplace deaths in Britain have fallen by 85 per cent since the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974.
“Health and safety legislation and subsequent case law have been huge players in making our workplaces safer, and much of that has its roots in Europe,” said Mr Dixon.
“The Government has the power to pick out what is needed and dispense with what is not when EU laws are converted into UK laws under the Repeal Bill. This process needs the most vigorous parliamentary scrutiny so that the laws which protect workers are not unravelled. It is literally a matter of life or death.
“Let’s hope that next year we’re looking at figures which show a reduction in workplace injury in North Warwickshire, and that everyone who goes out to work returns home,” Mr Dixon added.