During a sales demonstration at a woodworking trade show, the presenter showed the crowd how both an ordinary saw and one with a saw stopping safety device might work when it hit an operator's finger. To simulate a finger, he used a sausage. Intrigued, a curious spectator stepped up for a closer look, only to be struck in the eye by a flying piece of debris.
Now stop chuckling and regain your composure because – joking aside – health and safety in the workplace is no laughing matter. And a new survey shows the vast majority of small businesses aren’t taking health and safety seriously enough.
In fact, nearly 80% of those small businesses surveyed admitted they were guilty of breaking health and safety laws – 79% saying there are periods of time when there are no trained first aid workers in the office and 15% saying they have never actually assessed the risks within their workplace.
Health and safety regulations are certainly not something a business wants to take chances with. St John Ambulance, the charity that carried out the survey, also said that last year alone there were over 1100 cases of businesses being taken to court over health and safety issues – and 87% of those were found guilty of negligence.
Better safe than sorry! For all you need to know about risk assessments, legal requirements and your responsibilities as an employer or employee, visit the UK’s
health and safety at work website.
Then come back here and tell us how your office is tackling health and safety. Or where it might need to make some improvements….
