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With the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) publication of the new health and safety statistics in October, Sypol warns that the new figures underestimate the impact of poor health and safety practice on the economy.
Cutting losses associated with ill health at work at a time of a deepening financial crisis should be an urgent priority for UK businesses says Lawrence Waterman, Sypol's Chairman: "The new statistics show a worrying plateau of injuries. There is also a huge overhang of ill health. Although there are some improvements, targets are clearly not being met and this is a huge concern."
"Businesses should, at the very least, be maintaining their current levels of health and safety performance so problems do not worsen. The challenge that most businesses face is how to make real improvements and address core health and safety issues in a time of financial crisis."
"We believe the answer is to engage the whole workforce and try new initiatives and approaches such as looking at behavioural-based programmes. We are not suggesting that organisations spend more money on improving health and safety and wellbeing, but rather explore smarter ways of tacking issues. This includes making the most of expert advice available and involving staff at all levels of the business rather than treating it in isolation as a management issue."
Look out for our next issue of E-orbit where we will be looking at ways to kickstart a step change in performance.
Useful links to HSE Statistics
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