MET News

New Research Shows Suprising Attitudes Towards Health & Safety
15 July 2010

HSE launches a new strategy for a common sense approach to risk at work.

Workplace deaths and injuries have fallen over the past thirty years but thousands still die every year as a result of work related accidents and ill health.The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will launch a new strategy, Be Part of the Solution, In June 2010 designed to reduce the number of workplace accidents and take a common sense approach to ensuring that risk management is an enabler for business not a burden.

New research due to be published demonstrates that employers and workers alike recognise overwhelmingly that providing a safe workplace makes sound commercial sense. Nearly 90 per cent of business leaders say that people are their organisation’s most important asset. In addition to preventing accidents, 65 per cent of employees say that good health and safety practices make them feel valued.

The recession could make some workplaces more dangerous, as more than a quarter of business leaders say that that their organisation will face pressure to cut spending on health and safety this year. This is not only potentially dangerous but could also be bad for business; nearly eight in ten business leaders acknowledge that good health and safety standards are beneficial. In part this is because the cost of preventing accidents is almost always less than the costs associated with an accident once it happens.

Almost half of Britain’s workers know someone who has been injured at work, yet the actual rate of deaths and serious injuries is greatly underestimated. On average, employees think that 3,000 people were killed or seriously injured at work last year, but the true number is 136,000 – more than 45 times higher.

The most effective way to improve health and safety practices is for senior management to show leadership on the issue. HSE is thus calling on leaders today to sign a pledge to ‘Be Part of the Solution’ and improve health and safety standards. Training is a vital part of this and it is paramount that companies use a reputable training provider. MET are accredited by IOSH and NEBOSH and are HSE approved. Put your company’s health and safety training needs in safe hands and talk to MET today.

For more information visit www.hse.gov.uk or call MET to see how we can help with your health and safety training requirements.