Recently the Health and Safety Executive published their Annual Statistics Report.

• Download the HSE Annual Statistics Report
• Download the Mesothelioma Statistics

Below is an initial analysis of the mesothelioma statistics data:

• The number of mesothelioma deaths has increased, albeit by a small amount from 2,334 in 2009 to 2,347 in 2010.
•  The 2010 statistics are provisional and in former years the numbers have increased when the final figures have been published.
• The 2007 – 2009 incidence of mesothelioma was 37.8 per million per annum.
• The 2008 – 2010 incidence of mesothelioma is 38.57 per million per annum.
• The incidence of mesothelioma in Britain remains by far the greatest in the world.
• The deaths amongst males has increased from 1943 in 2009 to 1947 in 2010
• Female deaths have increased from 391 in 2009 to 401 in 2010
• The report highlights an increasing number of people who cannot identify where they were exposed to asbestos and states the fol
• It suggests that only a minority (around a third) of mesotheliomas in women are a result of either occupational or domestic exposures. This, together with the fact that deaths among women have also increased over the last 4 decades, implies that there has been an increase in the average background mesothelioma risk among both older women (and men) due to exposures that are not readily identifiable. Such exposures could have taken place in a wide variety of settings during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s when asbestos was being widely used within the building industry.
• The number of mesothelioma deaths over the age of 75 continues to increase.
• The occupational statistics only include occupations up to the age of 75.
• Studies have shown that on average latencies can be longer for low level exposures.
• Therefore on average it is likely that a disproportionate number of school teachers and support staff deaths will not be recorded in the occupational statistics as they died over the age of 75.