British Safety Council lends support to ‘Healthy workplaces at any age campaign’

Posted on Friday 1 January 2010

The 2016 European Week for Safety and Health at Work, taking place between 24-28 October, is promoting the importance of safe and healthy working throughout the working life.

This is a key event in the European Agency’s for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) two-year campaign Healthy Workplaces for All Ages Campaign.

By 2030, employees aged over 55 are expected to make up 30% or more of the total workforce in many EU countries. In the UK, approximately 30% of the total workforce is already over 50 years old, while employees aged 60 and over constitute 23% of the workforce, and this figure is set to rise to 30.7% by 2020*.

Mike Robinson, chief executive of the British Safety Council, said: “For almost 60 years the British Safety Council has been working with employers and decision makers to promote our vision that no-one should be injured or made ill at work. We are delighted to once again be lending support as a media partner to EU-OSHA’s campaign through Safety Management, the British Safety Council’s monthly magazine.

“As a corporate membership organisation, we continue to promote and work alongside employers providing evidence to support the business case for investing in occupational safety and health. The benefits associated with such an investment impact on organisations’ bottom line, but also benefit individuals and the wider community.

“As our recent annual conference highlighted, working well at any age requires looking at a more complete approach to physical and mental health, well-being and engagement, recognising that these factors are essential to maintaining healthy workforce and a productive business.

“That’s why, while safety will remain a key consideration, particularly in an industrial work environment, maintaining the long-term health and wellbeing of all employees will become a business priority. Crucially, these efforts should be directed towards employees at all stages of their working careers. And it remains a priority to engage young people, particularly as they start their working lives.”

_{*CIPD report Avoiding the demographic crunch: Labour supply and the ageing workforce, June 2015}