You asked
Please provide the statistics for those killed or injured while at work and those who were not at work for the following dates:
- 1979 through to 1985
- 2004 through to 2010
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are responsible for publishing mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. However we are unable to provide statistics on injuries.
Underlying cause of death is coded using the International Classification of Diseases. From 1979 to 2000, version 9 (ICD-9) was used to code cause of death, whereas from 2001 onwards, version 10 (ICD-10) has been used. Causes of death are not all directly comparable between different versions of the ICD.
There are a number of ICD-9 codes which could relate to deaths caused by contact with electricity, these are:
- 9200, 9201 and 9202 - Accidents caused by cutting and piercing instruments e.g. powered lawn mowers, other powered hand tools and powered household appliances and implements
- 9250 to 9259 - Accidents caused by electric current
- 9584 - Suicide by electrocution
- 9884 - Electrocution, Injury by other and unspecified means undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted
- 9298 - Late effects of accidental injury (please note this code could also include deaths that were not due to an electric current)
The ICD-10 codes for deaths caused by contact with electricity would be:
- W85 - Exposure to electric transmission lines
- W86 - Exposure to other specified electric current
- W87 - Exposure to unspecified electric current (Including burns or other injury from electric current, electric shock and electrocution)
We routinely publish deaths by underlying cause, sex and 5-year age group. For the years 1901 to 2000, this data is available in the 20th century mortality files: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160111174808/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-215593
For 2001 to 2016, this data is available from the 21st century mortality files: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/the21stcenturymortalityfilesdeathsdataset
For 2017, the equivalent data is available from our explorable dataset: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/select/getdatasetbytheme.asp?theme=73
Unfortunately, we do not hold information about whether a death occurred at work, as this information is only available for deaths which have gone to inquest. However other special extracts and tabulations of deaths data for England and Wales are available (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreement of costs, where appropriate). You can contact the team directly at: vsob@ons.gov.uk
You may be able to find information about fatal and non-fatal workplace injuries from the Health and Safety Executive: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/