Invest to Reduce Accidents at Work


by Saurav Dutt - Date: 2008-07-18 - Word Count: 400 Share This!

Europe's leading body for health and safety professionals, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), has suggested in new research that accidents at work can be reduced significantly by greater investment in safety professionals.

The findings discovered that a culture of safety was prevalent in firms and companies where senior management at all levels had sufficient health and safety training and could lead by example. On the other hand, where line managers lacked the training required, a pattern of slipshod practices and negligence was endemic and led to a greater number of accidents.

The research, which was primarily carried out by Glasgow Caledonian University, discovered that on average, the more qualified in health and safety the line manager in an organisation is, the lower the accident rate.  Representatives opined that this shows that investing in health and safety training has an impact, benefiting employees, and helping to boost productivity by reducing the considerable disruption caused by an incident causing death or injury. They reviewed data from over 100 contractors in the construction industry who collectively employed over 200,000 workers. 

Companies with line managers with higher levels of health and safety training and qualifications have the lowest accident rates.  Those with less than two days training have accident rates more than eight times higher than companies with the most highly trained or qualified line managers. This is especially relevant for the UK where over 200 people are killed each year in accidents at work and over one million are injured.

The research shows the importance of training in the workplace not just at managerial level, where it should be a prerequisite, but also that employees also require training to carry out their jobs.  They need to know about your policies and procedures, what part they play and how they can raise any health and safety concerns with management. Additionally, it will develop a positive health and safety culture, where safe and healthy working becomes second nature to everyone.

In the UK, Norwich Union is recommending more training to prevent transport accidents in the workplace as part of a safety campaign. Forklift trucks were singled out as being particular hazards in the workplace and lack of training, supervision and cooperation between workers and duty holders were leading to more accidents. According to the HSE, forklift trucks were responsible for just under 2,000 reportable incidents in 2006 [the latest figures available], including seven deaths.


Related Tags: claims, work accidents, accidents at work

Saurav is an author of several articles pertaining to No Win No Fee, Compensation Claims, Work Accident Claims, Personal Injury Claims and other legal articles.

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