HSC TALKS TO SMALL BUSINESSES ABOUT HOW TO CUT RISKS

HSC press release: C011:03 - 15 April 2003

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) will be deepening the dialogue with small businesses about how to cut business risk. Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission and Judith Donovan, CBE, Health and Safety Commissioner for Small Businesses will be speaking at the Sunday Times Small Business Week at Earls Court from 28-30 April.

Outlining the benefits - both direct and indirect - of carrying out risk assessments, Bill Callaghan says of taking part: "It makes good business sense to manage your health and safety and the key to this is risk assessment. But risk assessment isn't some complicated, scientific process or simply a load of red tape, its plain common sense: find out if you have a problem, decide what to do about it and make an action plan. As well as helping firms comply with health and safety law, risk assessment leading to health and safety management can actually save small businesses money."

Using a case study to reinforce the message that far from being an expensive waste of time, risk assessment is actually a cost effective business investment well worth making, Geraint Jenkins who runs A Morgan Farms, said, "Before we undertake any task we look at the work we are going to do and we take a few moments to think, on a common sense basis, about what the risks are and then look at how you can protect against those risks. It's a short period of time, it's simple to do and it means you are able to avoid accidents by a little bit of forethought".

HSE has published a free ready reckoner to help small businesses work out just what an accident could cost them. Many people are surprised at just how costly even a small accident can be and small businesses are encouraged to use the ready reckoner to help them calculate such costs for their businesses.

At the event the HSE will launch a revised version of its highly successful leaflet 'An Introduction to Health and Safety", aimed at people who run small businesses. However, it is also relevant to others including employees and their representatives, or anyone who wants a starting point for information on health and safety at work. The leaflet is an introduction to health and safety, highlighting key areas of risk that businesses should know about and advises the reader where they can obtain further information on particular subjects.

The revised version includes some additional topics relating to the HSE's Priority Programmes including falls from height and stress as well as added features including some useful tools to use to carry out a risk assessment and develop a health and safety policy.

Judith Donovan said: "Most health and safety failures are avoidable - they are due to poor management and ignorance of good practice. Health and safety doesn't have to get in the way of what you need to do in your business, you don't have to read a plethora of health and safety literature but what you do need to do is understand your health and safety responsibilities and take action. If you don't read any other health and safety leaflet read this one! It will give you a good introduction to health and safety together with some useful tools to help you comply with the law and make your workplace healthy and safe".

Notes for editors

1. The HSE Ready Reckoner can be found on the HSE Website at: www.hse.gov.uk/costs . The leaflet 'Reduce risks - cut costs' INDG355 explains how expensive work accidents and ill health can be and suggests simple methods to work out the potential costs to a business. HSE calculates that for a serious or major injury the typical, uninsured cost to employers is about £20,000.

2. The HSE's Priority Programme includes the Construction, Agriculture and Health Service Sectors and the following topics; Slips and Trips, Workplace Transport, Musculoskeletal Disorders, Stress and Falls from a Height.

3. On 7 June 2000 the Government and Health and Safety Commission launched the
Revitalising Health and Safety initiative. It aims to achieve, by the year 2010, the following improvement targets: reduce the number of working days lost from work-related injuries and ill-health by 30 per cent; reduce the incidence of people suffering from work-related ill-health by 20 per cent; and reduce the rate of fatal and major injuries by 10 per cent. There is an additional target of achieving half of each improvement by the year 2004.

4. In the years 2000 - 2002 approximately 146,000 copies of the leaflet "An Introduction to Health and Safety" have been issued each year. Single copies of the revised version of this leaflet (INDG259 rev1) are free. It can be ordered online at: http://books.hse.gov.uk

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