Businesses warned against making cutbacks
February 1st 2009 As the recession tightens and
businesses across the UK
look at ways of reducing
costs in order to stay afloat,
the British Safety Council
(BSC) and a leading lawyer
in the field of personal injury
have issued a stark warning
to business leaders that
reducing spend on
controlling risks to
workplace health and safety
could endanger lives and cost
companies an average of
£30,000 per claim along with
significant reputational
damage.
"There is a danger with
the credit crunch that firms
will cut back on health and
safety planning and
implementation, leading to
an increase in personal
injuries at work," says
Grahame Aldous QC of 9
Gough Square Chambers,
"This may provide more
work for lawyers, but the
reputational and internal
ethos damage to firms may
be considerable if they let this
area of their operations go.
Despite the myth of a
compensation culture,
personal injury claims have
been reducing, but firms
should not be surprised if
that reverses if they let health
and safety go to cut costs."
Research conducted last
year by the BSC, revealed
that despite long established
laws on health and safety,
two out of three UK
employees have had little or
no safety training, while
barely half of their bosses had
arranged a safety audit or
had a health and safety
management system in place. More articles from British Safety Council: | 
