HSE to name work-related casualties

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been ordered to release the names of people who have died in work-related incidents, in order for other organisations to learn from those mistakes and safeguard their own staff's health and safety.

According to legal-medical.co.uk, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is demanding the executive release the identities of those who have lost their lives while at work.

The information is available to the public at present, however the ICO claims it is difficult to collate and the coroner's courts, which hold the details, do not categorise deaths in a way which allows members of the public to see which are work-related, the website claims.

Colin Ettinger, a lawyer, told the publication the decision by the commissioner's office was a positive one.

"These changes will allow greater access to the causes of work-related deaths and will allow families of the deceased … the ability to track how those fatalities are dealt with by the investigation prosecution bodies," he said.

Mr Ettinger went on to add he hopes the move will lead to improved health and safety conditions for employees and help reduce the number of work-related deaths.

According to the HSE, the provisional figure for the number of workers fatally injured in 2007/08 is 228 and corresponds to a rate of fatal injury of 0.75 per 100,000 members of staff.