Industrial accidents and accident claims
Workplace accidents are far too common in the UK, with 35% of all serious personal injuries related to slips, trips and falls in industrial environments. Countless accident claims have been made concerning work injuries involving faulty machinery and fork lift accidents.
Therefore, with accident claims often resulting in compensation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) continuously urges employers to enforce risk assessment practices and create educational schemes for their workers.
While the cost of complying with health and safety regulations can be expensive, failure for an employer to do so can be even more financially damaging, as such violations can result in hefty fines and the loss of reputation.
Statistics revealed by the HSE showed the trends of the yearly health and safety expenditure by organisations based on their size. Small companies spent around £4,000, medium firms spent £27,000 and large businesses spent £430,000.
When the figures are broken down, it becomes clear why some small firms try to avoid paying for adequate health and safety measures for their workers.
Small and medium sized companies pay around £160 per worker to meet the obligations of health and safety laws, compared to the low cost of £20 per worker incurred by large organisations.
As a result, the Labour International Organisation reminded that all companies, no matter how big or small, should always practice safety at work if they want to avoid an influx of accident claims.
ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said: "A safety culture must be nurtured through partnership and dialogue - governments, employers and workers creating safe and healthy workplaces.”
Thankfully, despite the cynicism that surrounds employers when looking at work safety regulations, the majority stated that such rules were beneficial. 60% believed that the positives to health and safety outweighed the costs, whereas only 3% stated that the costs outweighed the gains.
Despite the apparent encouragement of health and safety by bosses in the workplace, it still seems that industrial accidents are far too common. After all, 25,000 people are involved in serious industrial accidents every year in Great Britain.
These accidents must stop, according to The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), which called upon businesses to publish their health and safety performance rates, in an attempt to help the HSE better target their resources.
“The HSE needs to establish new and imaginative relationships with other key actors across the health and safety delivery landscape,” Tom Mullarkey, Rospa's chief executive, said.
Just two weeks ago 37-year-old Philip Ring, from Plymouth was killed in an industrial accident in Crapstone, Yelverton.
It was explained by the Police that pallets full of dry plaster powder were being unloaded from a lorry at the time of the accident at Yelverton Business Park. It is understood that Ring was hit by a pallet that fell onto him.
An air ambulance attended with paramedics and took the man to Derriford Hospital, where he later died. The accident is now subject to investigation by both the police and the HSE.
In 2007, a man at a Hampshire industrial estate was killed because of a serious accident. Lorry driver Adam Millichio, 27, was killed by a 1,100kg sheet of metal that went straight into his chest after he was trapped in a gap between two vehicles.
Some have stated that the company behaved negligently due to uneven flooring and potholes, which caused the forklift truck with the metal sheet to roll into Adam.
Workplace reform
However, it does seem that there are some companies which are learning from their mistakes. New safety measures have been introduced at a Shoebury firm following an industrial accident in which a steel worker was seriously burnt.
The 40-year-old man suffered personal injuries while working at a metal works when he received burns on his face and upper body.
Steve Ramm, Southend Counil’s team leader for business regulations stated how his team introduced new safety measures at the firm.
“Soon after the incident, improvement notices were served requiring alterations in the firm’s systems for dealing with waste, the control of substances hazardous to health and the control of dangerous substances and explosive atmospheres, ” Ramm said.
Updated on 4/14/2009