The Big Picture

One of the problems with Health and Safety is that we all naturally need to believe that misfortune happens to others, not ourselves.

 

We tend to reinforce that belief, as we rarely have any information that quantifies the overall likelihood of our being harmed, in a manner that is relevant to our everyday lives.

 

The latest accident figures from both the Department of Transport and HSE have been released - a comparison may be helpful;

 

Last year, there were over 25,000 people injured on Britain’s roads.

There were over 600,000 people injured or had their health damaged at work.

 

By comparison then, there were more than 24 times as many people harmed at work than on the roads.

 

Looking at the control measures we have in place on the roads; Licensing, testing vehicles, training and testing drivers, speed limits, speed cameras, traffic police, TV coverage etc, you might conclude that they appear to be more effective in reducing road traffic accidents than the measures applied to reduce work related harm.

 

The question is; Do you do enough, to protect your health and safety, and that of your colleagues, at work?