An Introduction to Health & Safety

Introduction

It's your business - but we can help you look after it!

Getting hurt at work or becoming ill through work is not a pleasant subject to think about. The reality is that 250 people a year lose their lives at work in Britain. In addition, around 156,000 non-fatal injuries are reported each year, and an estimated 2.3 million suffer from ill health caused or made worse by work.

The mistake is to believe that these things happen in highly unusual or exceptional circumstances that never occur in your workplace. This is not the case. Some basic thinking and acting beforehand could usually have prevented these things from happening.

Implementing health and safety measures doesn't have to be expensive, time consuming or complicated, in fact, safer and more efficient working practices can often save money but, more importantly, they can help to save lives.

This guide shows you the kind of things which cause the more common accidents and harm to people's health. It lets you see what applies to your work activities, and tells you how you can get more help and information.

This is especially important if you are in charge of work activities, eg you are an employer, because you have legal responsibilities.