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Safety not a higth priority for many bosses - 07-05-2008 |
New research reveals that a large number of bosses put other business concerns ahead of worker safety, according to their staff.
When asked to rank their boss's business priorities, 31 per cent felt that keeping customers and clients happy was their boss’s top concern. A further 26 per cent believe their boss sees getting work done on time as most important, while another 23 per cent say making money is the main goal of their employer. Only seven per cent said that making sure employees are not hurt or made ill by their work was their boss’s main priority.
The YouGov survey commissioned by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), Europe’s largest health and safety professional body, found that 56 per cent of employees felt health and safety was important to their boss, although 14 per cent felt it was not.
Over two-thirds (67 per cent) of employees surveyed said they felt health and safety either saved lives or meant people didn’t get ill or hurt at work and the majority don’t think it’s about red tape, silly European laws or stopping people getting on with their lives!
Lord McKenzie, Minister responsible for Health and Safety, said that health and safety was something all employers needed to take seriously:
“There is a strong business case for responsible health and safety at work and some employers clearly fail to take seriously the risks that many of their employees face each day.
“The government considers that the amount of workplace accidents and illness caused by work is unacceptable. We are committed to tackling the toll of workplace ill-health, injury and death and call on all employers to ensure that their workforce stays healthy.”
Ray Hurst, the president of IOSH, commented:
“These workers views suggest that there’s still a minority of employers out there who simply don’t give a damn about their staff. There are some who still think it’s okay to cut corners and put their staff at risk, and that’s not acceptable. While the vast majority of bosses do take health and safety seriously, workers feel some do not.
“Those who think like that are wrong. The consequences of serious accidents, in which people may be killed or maimed, can affect workers, their families and bosses for the rest of their lives. And of course, there are also the legal and business effects, such as facing the full force of the law, the damage to reputation, the loss of business and increased insurance costs.
“Most people questioned in these surveys are quite clear that health and safety is important to them. It’s time all bosses started to treat health and safety with the importance it deserves. Everyone should appreciate that without health and safety, people can and do get seriously hurt or killed at work.”
| Institute of Safety and Health
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