At last, the UK is coming out of our deep recession, so they say. The economy has started to recover. Great news, but for health and safety professionals this also rings some warning bells.
In the past, when the country moved into a recovery phase following a difficult time, statistics have shown an alarming trend. The numbers of incidents at work resulting in serious injuries and even fatalities have risen sharply.
More Productivity Needs More Staff
The reason is quite simple. When you are able to boost productivity, you’ll need to boost staff numbers to keep up the pace. New recruits are the most likely to have accidents as they learn how to perform the tasks required of them, especially if they are young people who have not worked before or those inexperienced in the type of work.
Statistics indicate that reportable incidents that have injured employees in their first six months on the job number more than three times those involving other colleagues. The ratio of more minor incidents known about is even greater.
Don’t Become Part of the Statistics
The solution is also simple. Organise health and safety training for new recruits as early as possible. Set up policies that restrict what they can do before they are trained. Ensure that they are more heavily supervised and mentored. Make them visible with some kind of clothing that identifies them as new and untrained, and encourage other workers to recognise and assist them.
The training courses offered by Alistair Bromhead range from basic health and safety, through manual handling, and train the trainer courses. With your own in-house trainers, delays in getting people up to speed will be a thing of the past.
Most Alistair Bromhead courses are accredited by City and Guilds or IOSH, and come highly recommended by attendees and their sponsors for their interactive and relevant content presented by excellent tutors, and for the after-course tools provided with support always available.