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Safety and Health should be included in back to work plan - 24-03-2008 |
Health and safety professional’s body, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has broadly welcomed the announcement in Chancellor Alastair Darling’s Budget to provide £60 million over three years to help equip people’s return to work, providing them with the skills and opportunities they need.
Richard Jones, policy and technical director, said:
"We’re pleased that the Chancellor has set aside a sum to help provide people with the training they need to return to work. However, we would emphasise the need for vocational training and apprenticeships to also cover the essential health and safety elements, to help inform future decision-makers and to upskill and protect tomorrow’s workforce.
"We’re still very keen to see a firm commitment from the Government on the education of young people in health and safety. Tragically, 64 under-19s have been killed in the workplace in the last 10 years and almost 15,000 seriously injured.
"IOSH has already produced the Workplace Hazard Awareness Course (WHAC) for year-10 pupils, freely available to schools from our website; all that’s needed now is for the Government to make the course mandatory, so that all pupils in the UK can benefit."
As part of the Government’s plans to support one million people on incapacity benefit back into work, Mr Darling has announced the introduction of work capability assessments from 2010.
Commenting on this, Richard said:
"IOSH has highlighted the need for those conducting such assessments to have adequate understanding of occupational health issues. We also believe that this initiative may mean potentially vulnerable workers entering the workplace and resource needs to be available to support them in the long-term and to make sure their return to work is both safe and sustainable.
"We advocate a team approach to this, involving employers, workers, HR officers, doctors, nurses and health and safety practitioners, helping ensure any necessary reasonable adjustments are made to the workplace and working arrangements.
"Well-managed work can be good for people’s health and wellbeing. However, we must also remember that last year 2.2 million people suffered ill-health they believe caused or made worse by their work. As a country, we need to do far better at looking after the health of our workers – this means strong leadership, involving the workforce and getting the competent health and safety assistance you need."
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