Why we must remain focused on accident prevention

Latest HSE accident statistics which suggest there has been a slight fall in workplace accidents should in no way result in a loss of focus on accident prevention, says Roger Bibbings of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)

Recently published provisional figures for 2011/12 showed there had been a very slight reduction in fatal workplace injuries in Britain.

The figures, from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), revealed that 173 workers were killed - down just two from the 2010/11 figure of 175. The rate of fatal injury remained the same, at 0.6 per 100,000 workers.

It must be remembered that workplace accidents represent just a small part of the overall burden of work-related harm. Workrelated road accidents, for example, are not included in the HSE figures and are estimated to be much higher in number than accidents in fixed workplaces.

There is also the largely unseen burden of harm due to work-related health damage, which causes thousands of early deaths each year - 4,500 from asbestos-related conditions alone.

Work-related deaths, serious injuries and disease shatter families and they also have massive consequences for businesses, communities and society as a whole. For this reason, we must remain focused on prevention. An important part of this involves helping employers, and particularly smaller firms, get a handle on effective safety and health management, which we know can be a subject that is widely misinterpreted.

At RoSPA, we are asked frequently about the help available for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Improving this help is a subject that has been on our agenda for a number of years.

We know that SMEs are not simply smaller versions of large firms. When it comes to health and safety, they face particular challenges; for example, SMEs tend to face significant time and financial constraints that restrict the resources they have available for prevention. Another challenge is that, although accident rates may be higher than in large companies, in any individual SME the interval between such events can be very long. On the other hand, the disruption caused when a team member is injured or made ill at work can be felt acutely, with severe consequences for productivity and team morale. Research has also shown that SMEs may be spending disproportionately high sums on risk management compared to their larger counterparts, sometimes because they are over investing in things they do not really need. Improving SMEs' access to good and cost effective information and advice on sensible health and safety management is something that we in RoSPA are particularly passionate about.

There are a variety of good sources of help, including many that are free. There is the HSE website - www.hse.gov.uk - which is excellent. And, if you're a member of a trade association or similar body, why not see what help it is able to give.

Another good and free source of information is the Safety Groups UK (SGUK) network. Around 70 local groups form the nationwide network and they consist of safety and health professionals from businesses and organisations who give up their time free-ofcharge to offer practical help and advice to other employers in their area, particularly small firms. You can find information about your local group at www.safetygroupsuk.org.uk.

In addition to information about the activities of and the contact details for local groups, the website also contains information about the Health Risks at Work initiative, which is being promoted by SGUK after its successful development in Scotland.

As we saw earlier, work-related health damage is a massive problem affecting firms across the UK, and I would therefore like to commend this initiative, which has freely downloadable resources, to you.