Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has commissioned any research into the causes of the disproportionately high rate of male workplace fatalities.

The underlying risk of an adverse health and safety outcome such as ill health or injury will differ from one worker to the next. Research commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) indicates that an individual’s risk is driven by a combination of factors including their occupation, the length of time they have been doing their job and the industry in which they work. As a result, the differences in injury and ill health rates will be strongly affected by the overall employment profiles of men and women.