Insurers can now access detailed information about companies convicted of health and safety breaches on a website launched this week by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The site lists more than 1,600 individual crimes committed by companies across the UK during 1999/2000.
HSE director general Timothy Walker said: “Companies, organisations and individuals must be held accountable for their health and safety performance: their professional reputation should depend on it.
“The convictions are there for everyone to see, including would-be customers, contractors, investors, employees and insurers.”
Big-name organisations cited on the web site: www.hse-databases.-co.uk/prosecutions/ include motor giant Ford and communications group British Telecom.
The report showed that worker fatalities dropped to 218 from 253 in the previous report. The fatality rate decreased significantly in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, by 19% and 38% respectively. However, the rate of fatalities among construction workers rose by 18%.
