THE COST OF IGNORING SAFETY
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The CBI reported that in 2009 UK employees took 180 trillion sick days at a cost to industry of £16.8bn. It is estimated that sickness relating to workplace injury and illness accounted for £3.7bn. This figure does not include the amount that employers spend on insurance policies and compensation to injured or ill employees.
Workplace injury and illness is a costly business and so any means of reducing this cost should be welcomed by employers.
The DTI (sic) paper Workplace representatives: A review of their facilities and facility time, published in 2007, estimates that safety representatives save society up to £578m each year and prevent between 8,000 and 13,000 workplace accidents and between 3,000 to 8,000 work-related illnesses.
These tangible results demonstrate the positive effect that union-elected health and safety representatives have on workplace health and safety HSE chairwoman Judith Hackitt says: "Doing the right thing the right way delivers improved productivity, increased workforce commitment and enhanced reputation."