Drive to curb accidents at work

Traditionally dangerous industries will be targeted

Moves to tackle the huge cost to industry of health and safety problems are being unveiled by the government.

The measures include targets on cutting accidents at work. Lost production, accidents and the resultant strain on the NHS costs the UK an estimated £18bn a year.

But a 44-point action plan being launched by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott will signal the most radical changes since the Health and Safety At Work Act was enforced in 1974.

Traditionally dangerous sectors like the construction trade will be targeted by campaigns forming part of the new initiative.

Work death toll

Accidents at work kill around 400 people each year in the UK, with 25 million working days lost annually through stress and illness.

Work-related ill-health forces over 25,000 workers to give up their jobs each year, and an estimated two million people suffer from bad health blamed on their workplace.

The numbers of workers suffering from stress has grown to 500,000 a year.

Biggest killers

Back problems are the most common work-related ailment and falls from a height are the biggest killer of workers.

Less immediate but no less deadly is previous exposure to asbestos - this kills an estimated 3,000 people annually in the UK.

Self-employed workers are twice as likely to die at work than full-time staff, and the death rate in small manufacturing firms is double that for larger employers.