Despite widespread criticism of health and safety legislation, statistics clearly show that less people are being killed or injured in workplace accidents than ever before.
In 2013-14 (the last year for which statistics are available), there were 133 workplace fatalities in Britain, 150 less than in 2012-13 and a fifth lower than the last five-year average of 164.
Fitting with a wider national trend of less fatalities being recorded, the figure of 133 deaths is particularly low when compared to the number of those killed in road accidents (approximately 2,000 people) and those killed in home-based accidents (almost 5,000 people) per year.
The decrease can partly be attributed to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which was set up 40 years ago and is responsible, among its other duties, for inspecting the health and safety practice of various industries that pose a high risk, including construction and manufacturing.
Though the HSE has faced recent funding cuts, the organisation has reacted by conducting more focused inspections and trying to dispel the numerous myths that surround its work.
An academic study conducted by researchers at Exeter University found that half of all healthy and safety myths related to shops, leisure centres and cafés, which the HSE believes is because managers hide their own failings and apportion blame to current legislation.
Judith Hackitt CBE, Chair of the Health and Safety Executive, actively tries to dispel health and safety myths and two years ago oversaw the introduction of an internal unit dedicated to dealing with negative attitudes, which now handles an average of two misquoted health and safety cases each week.
She highlights the point that Britain is the only country to have constructed an Olympic stadium and park without a single fatality but admits to other issues, such as the blame culture in Britain, being a source of irritation.
Ms Hackitt said: “What people sometimes hide behind when they misuse the health and safety term is the fear of being sued, and no one wants to take responsibility for their actions.”