Death from injury – Office of National Statistics Public Health Mortality Files

By law, every fatal injury or injury requiring three or more days off work has to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in a system known at RIDDOR. HSE gets to know about virtually all workplace deaths but there is considerable underreporting of non-fatal injuries. Comparison with the 2002/3 Labour Force Survey in Great Britain estimates that 43% of reportable injuries are reported by employers but less than 5% for self-employed people.

Files of death data are purchased from the Office of National Statistics by NHS organisations based on years of registration or years of occurrence. There is an annual extract file and a monthly file called the Public Health Mortality File. In Wales these are held at Health Solutions Wales (HSW) and analysed by staff from HSW or the National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHSW).

Number and rates of injury related deaths in Wales - 1982, 1996 - 2003 (xls)