Employers
are failing to meet the cost of workplace injuries and illness, the TUC claims.
Figures
show workplace injury and illness costs the UK economy £18bn a year, but the
average British organisation pays just £70 per employee in insurance to cover
the annual cost of compensating staff hurt at work.
The
TUC is calling for employers to pay more of the costs of poor workplace health
and safety in ‘Radical solutions are all we can afford’, its submission to the
Government review of employer liability insurance.
The
TUC claims:
–
on average, employers are paying just £70 a year for each worker in employer
liability insurance – less than a tenth of the average cost of insuring a car
–
most of the £18bn cost of workplace injury and illness is paid for by the
Government and the victims
The
Health and Safety Executive estimates that employers, who cause the health and
safety risks, pay between £3.3bn and £6.5bn.
Owen
Tudor, TUC health and safety expert, said: "We need a system where the
perpetrator pays, so they have an incentive to prevent injuries and ill health.
We need to complete the creation of the welfare state with a national
rehabilitation service, and fair compensation for injury victims. For all that,
employers need to pay more, but they need to get more too – insurers should
help them protect their workers and get them back to work fast if the worst
happens."
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