Campaign to cut falls at work
THREE people died and almost 1,300 suffered serious injury after “easily avoidable” slips, trips or falls in workplaces across East Anglia last year.Now the second phase of a campaign has been launched to highlight the “devastating consequences” and to encourage employers to take action.
THREE people died and almost 1,300 suffered serious injury after “easily avoidable” slips, trips or falls in workplaces across East Anglia last year.
Now the second phase of a campaign has been launched to highlight the “devastating consequences” and to encourage employers to take action.
The figures were released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which urged businesses to take “simple measures” to make a “positive difference”.
The number of serious injuries across the region in 2007/8 included:
You may also want to watch:
Breckland - 95
Broadland - 67
Most Read
- 1 Drone photo shows £26m seafront leisure centre taking shape
- 2 Norfolk and Suffolk Election 2021: Low turnout in Great Yarmouth
- 3 6 things to do as temperatures set to rise to 21C
- 4 Historical clock restored after sitting in cellar for 60 years
- 5 What can't open in Norfolk on May 17 - and why
- 6 Buy a B&B as nine for sale in 'boom year' for budget hotels
- 7 'Water runs down the walls' - Woman, 65, hits out at mouldy council flat
- 8 Five rare birds that have been spotted in Norfolk
- 9 Giles Orpen-Smellie elected as police and crime commissioner
- 10 Tributes to high street mechanic known as a 'local legend'
East Cambridgeshire - 46
Forest Heath - 57
Fenland - 90
King's Lynn and West Norfolk - 108
Mid Suffolk - 49
North Norfolk - 55
South Norfolk - 62
Norwich - 110
St Edmundsbury - 95
Suffolk Coastal - 102
Waveney - 73
Yarmouth Borough - 69
The second phase of the Shattered Lives campaign was launched yesterday. Marcia Davies, HSE head of the injury reduction programme, said: “People often view slips, trips and falls as trivial incidents, even comical but they are no joke to those who suffer major injuries, a lifetime of disability, time off work and in the worst cases, death.
“We want to raise awareness of how these incidents can happen and how they can be easily avoided by taking common-sense actions and precautions at no or little cost. If you spot a hazard in your workplace deal with it, don't assume that somebody else will. The lives of workers and their families are shattered by the serious consequences of these types of accidents. Simple measures introduced by businesses can make a positive difference to safety in the workplace,” she said.
Fatalities and serious injuries arising from slips, trips and fall incidents cost British society an estimated �700m last year, according to the HSE. The campaign is targeted at seven sectors where there is a prevalence of such injuries: food retail, catering and hospitality, food and drink manufacturing, building and plant maintenance, construction, healthcare and education.
