Health & Safety spending – now is not the time to cut back!

The HSE (Health & Safety Executive) has issued a warning about the temptation for employers to save money by cutting their spending on Health & Safety. According to a survey they conducted recently, over 25% of those questioned said they were coming under pressure to cut back on safety spending. Evidence from previous economic downturns however, shows that the early recovery stages are amongst the most dangerous - as activity starts to pick up, so does the rate of workplace accidents. This is thought to be in part due to the number of relatively inexperienced (therefore cheap) workers taken on in high risk industries in an effort to keep costs down, and longer working hours. As the economy starts to recover, it would seem a wise idea to have good health & safety standards in place to avoid any accidents, thus avoiding the expense and heartbreak of having to deal with them afterward. 229 people were killed in workplace accidents in the UK last year, and over a hundred thousand injured. That’s an awful lot of avoidable distress, isn’t it?