The call follows a debate in the House of Lords on the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents' (RoSPA) call for a National Accident Prevention Strategy.

The RoSPA report - Safer Lives, Stronger Nation – reveals the true extent of accidents in the UK, the cost to the NHS and the wider UK economy. Its findings include:

• Over 20,000 people – more than the capacity of the 02 Arena - die of accidents in the UK each year
• The per capita rate of accidental deaths has increased by 42% since 2013
• Over half of fatal accidents happen in the home
• There are estimated to be over 800,000 accident-related admissions in the UK each year, and over 7m accident-related A&E attendances
• Accident-related hospital admissions in England have increased by 29% since 2002/03
• Accidents cost the NHS millions of bed days and £6bn in direct treatment costs annually. This does not include any ongoing costs for rehabilitation following accidents, which would make the figure much higher
• The UK economy loses another £6bn annually through lost productivity and working days. Over 10 times as many working days are lost to accidents as strikes.

Introducing the debate, Baroness Crawley of Edgbaston, RoSPA vice-president, said the 42% rise in deaths from accidents is ‘not just a statistic - it is a crisis: a national failure of co-ordination, leadership and investment.'

The debate explored many timely reasons why a national accident prevention strategy is required, including:

• The Get Britain Working white paper and the need to ensure people entering or returning to work are in a safe environment
• links between accidents and health inequalities, demonstrated by the disproportionate impact of accidents on people from deprived backgrounds
• merging issues such as driverless cars, AI and climate change
• growing evidence of the effectiveness of 20mph zones and segregated cycle lanes
• building regulations in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Viscount Younger of Leckie, said that ‘accident prevention should be a key facet at the heart of our regulatory system and considered to be an integral feature of so many aspects of the way in which we lead our lives, at home and in the workplace' and that ‘more cross-government work is required, with clear responsibilities for safety.'

Responding on behalf of the government, Baroness Sherlock, work and pensions minister, praised the RoSPA report and said: ‘We are committed to working across government to ensure that our approach to accident prevention or incident prevention is coherent, proportionate and responsive to the needs of people across the country.'

Steve Cole, RoSPA policy director, said after the debate: ‘This debate is an important step in RoSPA's fight to reverse the UK's alarming rise in accident rates, and we are grateful to the House of Lords' for raising the profile of this crucial topic.

‘While government's warm words are very welcome, the sheer scale of the crisis caused by years of insufficient and uncoordinated accident prevention work means there is not a moment to waste, so we look forward to working with them to transform their commitment into real action to save lives across the UK.'