From the CEO’s desk

The full report (and
an at a glance version) is available from the HSE’s website or can be
downloaded from the BSIF site www.bsif.co.uk/news.

The report highlights that although the UK’s performance
continues to be an example to other similarly developed economies we still have
76,000 employee injuries reported under RIDDOR with over 600,000 other injuries
recorded in the Labour Force Survey, illustrating that we have much work to do
still to ensure that the messages get out there where they are needed.

The HSE document also records that there are still 13,000
deaths still each year from work related conditions and it also states that
there are 1.2million people in the UK suffering from a work – related illness.

These numbers are worryingly high and the HSE estimates the
cost of injuries and ill health to be over £14billion. This figure is the cost
that is borne by the individual and by businesses. Add to this the fact that
injury and ill health results in over 27million working days lost, the mantra,
that good health and safety is good for the individual and for business has
never been more pertinent.

Maintaining that theme, on 6th October NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens spoke at the Institute of Directors Annual Convention
on the challenges facing the NHS. His speech stressed the impact of ill health
of workers and how this has a direct impact on the NHS which spends “£40bn a year on treating working age adults, much of which could be prevented.”

On the role of employers in workplace health Mr Stevens said:
“Because we have a tax-funded National Health Service in this country, rather
than employer-based health insurance like the French or Germans or Americans,
we don’t saddle business with the costs of health care. But one by-product is
that we tend to neglect workplace health. This is not true of all businesses
and as the Financial Times put it some large employers are “waking up to the
cost of ill employees.” But for small business this is harder.

Mr Stevens confirmed the NHS will therefore now work with employers
and staff organisations to explore whether there is a case for suggesting to
government consideration of fiscal incentives – perhaps an employers’ national
insurance rebate – for those small employers who provide their employees with
credentialed health and wellbeing programmes proven to cut long term costs to
the NHS.

Good health and safety is indeed good for business.

The move by the NHS and other organisations to work together
to improve workers’ health is prudent and one that is endorsed by the
BSIF. Every day our members support
businesses in their efforts to improve health and to reduce workplace and
injuries.

The BSIF is currently working on several initiatives to this
end but I would like to take the opportunity to tell you that we will shortly
publish a detailed report on tackling workplace respiratory disease and we will
be using this on a broad front to drive the key messages to the audience we
need to reach.