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Safety and Health Practitioner (SHP) is first for independent health and safety news.
November 15, 2013

Accidents deserve ‘big killer’ label

 

Accidents should be labelled as a ‘big killer’ alongside cancer and heart disease, the chief executive of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has said.
 
In a message to the safety charity’s annual meeting, held in Birmingham on 8 November, Tom Mullarkey described RoSPA’s battle to have accidents accepted on to the main stage of public health prioritisation. 
 
According to 2010 figures from the Office for National statistics for England and Wales, accidents account for almost a quarter (23 per cent) of preventable, premature death up to the age of 60 — ahead of other causes including preventable cancers, alcohol-related conditions, ischaemic heart disease and respiratory diseases.
 
In his foreword to RoSPA’s Annual Review 2012/13, Mr Mullarkey said: “The current priorities are entrenched and defended by some of the most capable (and well-funded) lobbyists in the country. Who would dare to take on cancer and heart disease in these conditions of public opinion, even if new evidence said otherwise?”
 
Mr Mullarkey went on to say that with the doubling of A&E attendances the NHS remained an ally to RoSPA’s cause: “If the NHS is to survive, it must deal with this over-pressure. The bulk of the 21 million A&E attendances in England are caused by accidents.”
 
Likening the case for accident prevention to other great UK discoveries and inventions, Mr Mullarkey said: “It is time to take these ‘radical’ but inescapable ideas through the buffers. If all great invention is based on first principle, then there is an immutable one: prevention is far better than cure.”

Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders

In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.

Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.

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