Companies told to make health and safety a priority

Posted 23/06/2009

Employers in East Anglia have been urged to minimise personal injury risks on their premises.

According to figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 12 employees died in a work-related accident in the east of England last year.

Heather Bryant, regional director at the watchdog, described this as a tragedy and insisted that many of these deaths could have been avoided if proper safety measures had been in place.

She has therefore called on businesses in cities such as Norwich and Cambridge to safeguard employees by making health and safety a priority.

“There are families throughout the region who have been cruelly robbed of a loved one in incidents that in many cases were entirely preventable,” Ms Bryant commented.

This coincides with a warning from the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health that the number of workplace deaths is disproportionately high in the construction sector.

Spokesperson John Lacey stated that 53 employees in the industry died at work last year, which he said was “far, far too many”.