The
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a tool to help businesses
calculate the cost of work-related accidents and ill-health.
According
to the HSE, health and safety failures currently cost employers up to £6.5bn
every year. More than 25 million working days are lost annually, with more than
a million workers suffering from work-related accidents and even more suffering
from work-related ill-health.
The
‘ready reckoner’ is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses and
comes in the form of a free leaflet and an interactive website. The reckoner explains
the associated costs of accidents and helps companies calculate the total cost.
It also provides advice on how to avoid this cost and includes case studies
highlighting firms which have suffered financially as a result of poor health
and safety performance.
Bill
Callaghan, chairman of the HSE, said: "Poor health and safety performance
is a competitiveness issue and employers who want business success cannot
afford to ignore it. Work-related accidents and ill-health are costing
Britain’s bosses billions every year, and yet there are still too many who
don’t even realise how much their own firms are suffering."
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