Date released
27 December 2023
Request number
202312052
Release of information under
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
Information requested
- Do you have any information that indicates whether injury rates or related indicators have been increasing in the UK nuclear industry? I am aware of the fatal accidents at AWE and HPC.
- Are you aware of any research being done into this matter within or outside the UK?
- Do you have any other perspective on the matter or suggestions?
Information released
We confirm that under s.1 of the FOIA, we hold the information you have requested. Please see below for a response to each of your questions in turn.
Do you have any information that indicates whether injury rates or related indicators have been increasing in the UK nuclear industry? I am aware of the fatal accidents at AWE and HPC.
ONR has published an analysis in the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Report on Great Britain’s Nuclear Industry 2022/23 regarding notifications under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), and previous editions. These are generally as absolute numbers rather than injury rates. The relevant section in the 2022/23 report can be found in Annex 3 (page 92), and key paragraphs to note include:
6.8 bullet 2: “A 32% increase in combined RIDDOR injuries and dangerous occurrences, together with a 25% increase in transport incidents.”
6.44: “Until this period, the changes in working patterns since COVID-19 have made trend analysis difficult. Current analysis shows that there has been a notable increase in the total numbers of reports of injuries. The primary cause is greater numbers of injuries at Hinkley Point C and Devonport. We have used this intelligence to inform our regulation of these areas. More details are provided in chapter 2.”
ONR did report an injury rate analysis in the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Report on Great Britain’s Nuclear Industry 2020/21 (this can be found in page 102). This was a collaboration with the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL). ONR does not require reporting of worker numbers, or numbers of hours worked per site, to derive injury rates routinely. However, dutyholders are likely to hold this data in their HR datasets and should be able to determine injury rates relevant to their undertakings/activities.
Are you aware of any research being done into this matter within or outside the UK?
The scope of IAEA Incident Reporting Systems and OECD NEA Expert Group on Operating Experience (EGOE) does not include non-nuclear safety, largely reflecting that most international nuclear safety regulators do not have responsibility for regulating non-nuclear safety.
Nuclear site health and safety regulation is one of ONR’s five purposes, and we routinely engage with HSE and other regulators regarding reporting criteria and trends. An example of this was the collaboration reported in the 2020/21 CNI report.
Do you have any other perspective on the matter or suggestions?
ONR’s perspective on the RIDDOR report trend is included in the CNI report 2022/23 and commentary is on a division-by-division basis. The size of the dataset is small compared with other sectors which makes extracting statistically significant trends difficult.
In the 2022/23 RIDDOR dataset there are 20 notifications which, based on the information reported, indicate the event could have been more severe. A significant proportion of this subset relates to lifting, work at height, interactions with heavy plant, dropped objects; dominated by construction and maintenance/decommissioning activities.
As mentioned in the CNI report, the primary contribution is greater numbers of injuries at Hinkley Point C and Devonport. ONR is engaging with industry through the Safety Directors Forum, and the Nuclear Industry Association to individually and collectively reflect on the factors that underlie variable performance, and propose strategic actions to improve.
As announced at the ONR Annual Conference, the next ONR CNI themed inspections (after Climate Change) will be on Nuclear Site Health and Safety.
Exemptions applied
N/A
PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable
N/A