Cases of pneumoconiosis in workers is slowly starting to decrease in the UK over the last few years, however, there are still incidences of the disease and the Health and Safety Executive believe that the actual number of cases of pneumoconiosis is substantially underreported.
A number of key statistics relating to pneumoconiosis are -
- Most of the workers suffering from pneumoconiosis are over 50 years of age.
- Approximately 6 out of 100,000 people suffer from a form of pneumoconiosis.
- In 2008 there were 10 silicosis deaths and 129 other non-asbestos related pneumoconiosis deaths in Great Britain.
- In 2008 there were 230 new assessed cases of coal worker’s pneumoconiosis.
- In 2009 there were 80 cases of silicosis and 255 new assessed cases of coal worker’s pneumoconiosis under the Industrial Injuries and Disablement Benefit (IIDB) scheme.
- Over the last 10 years the average number of pneumoconiosis cases recorded under the Health and Occupation Reporting (THOR) scheme in the UK on an annual basis was 200.
- Approximately 75% of non-asbestos pneumoconiosis cases recorded under the IIDB scheme in 2009 were from individuals that were 65 years of age or above.
- The Health and Safety Executive report that silica-related lung cancer cases as a consequence of silicosis have been estimated to cause 800 deaths per year.