Chapter 3 - Health
                                       

The CHASP system was introduced in 1997 for the reporting of all work related incidents. In April 2000 a second version of CHASP was launched, introducing improvements to the system and clarification of the data types required for analysis and reporting. This new version was widely publicised and promoted, leading to a noticeable improvement in reporting adverse health and safety incidents on the CHASP system. During 2004/05, the Army trialled a new system for reporting health and safety incidents, allowing Army personnel to report health and safety incidents to a dedicated 24 hour call centre (Army Incident Notification Cell, AINC). Following the success of the Army system both the Navy (Naval Service Incident Notification Cell, NSINC) and Defence Equipment and Support (Defence Equipment and Support Incident Notification Cell, DINC) have rolled out similar systems for collating health and safety incidents. These initiatives have resulted in improvements in the number of events reported on the system, as can be seen in Table 3.10 and Table 3.11 below.

The number of major injuries and illnesses reported on the Central Health and Safety Project (CHASP) system increased in 2006 to 430 from 85 in 1997, an increase of 406% (see Table 3.10). The rate of major injury and illnesses increased over the nine years from 26 per 100,000 MOD personnel in to 153 per 100,000.

The number of serious injuries and illnesses recorded on the CHASP system increased in 2006 to 1,550 from 530 in 1997, an increase of 192% (see Table 3.11 below). The rate of serious injury and illnesses reported on CHASP increased over the nine years from 162 per 100,000 MOD personnel in 1997 to 550 per 100,000 in 2006.

The increases in the rates of major and serious injuries and illnesses are thought to be due to the introduction of single Service notification cells and increasing health and safety awareness in general.
Table 3.10 Major Injuries and Illnesses UK Service Personnel and Civilians, numbers, financial year,                         numbers and rates per 100,0001,2,3,4
Major injuries and illnesses are defined by the HSE as work-related cases which:
- could result in death or in hospitalisation (or being confined to bed, if at sea) for more than 24 hours
- could result in a person not in MOD employment and who was not at work to be taken from a MOD site to a hospital for treatment as a result of MOD work activity or site infrastructure.

The data in this table are outside the scope of National Statistics because they do not meet all of the high professional quality assurance standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice.

Numbers
 1997   1998   1999   2000   2001   2002   2003   2004   2005   2006
Total
 85   215   215   210   200   200   205   280   295   430
Naval Service
 30   50   25   40   25   30   20   20   40   90
Army
 15   80   105   80   105   95   75   145   155   245
Royal Air Force
 20   25   30   40   25   30   40   50   40   30
Civilian
 20   60   55   55   45   45   70   60   60   65
 
                                      
Rate (per 100,000 strength)
 1997   1998   1999   2000   2001   2002   2003   2004   2005   2006
Total
 26   67   67   68   66   67   69   93   101   153
Naval Service
 65   111   55   94   62   75   51   52   106   230
Army
 14   73   95   73   95   86   69   132   143   227
Royal Air Force
 37   41   56   70   49   53   75   93   76   65
Civilian
 17   55   50   51   44   49   73   66   64   75
Source: DASA (Health Information)
1. The numbers provided in the table include both regular and reservist personnel, MOD civilian staff, and any other civilians injured on MOD property or in/by     MOD vehicles.
2. Figures exclude H&S related fatalities.
3. Rates calculated using Armed Forces strengths as the denominator.
4. The numbers of injuries have been rounded to the nearest 5, and therefore may not always add up to the totals provided.