Law firm warns of workers lax attitude to safety procedures

A leading solicitors claims that many workplace accidents can be attributed to relaxed attitudes by staff towards safety procedures.

The message was the main focus at a health and safety seminar held by London-based law firm Vizards Wyeth at Aylesford Newsprint, near Maidstone. The ‘Learning from our Mistakes’ seminar discussed research, which revealed only six percent of employees know how to safely leave their workplace in the event of a fire.

The research also showed that 40 percent of workers would follow other people in the even of a fire alarm, 29 percent would head to the nearest exit, and 26 percent would assume its was a false alarm.

The seminar was the latest meeting of the Vizards Wyeth Health and Safety Club, which provides a networking forum for health and safety experts from diverse industries and sectors. Hosted at a different venue each meeting, the club offers an insight into health and safety challenges and an opportunity to learn from other companies through plant tours.

David Johnson from Vizards Wyeth stressed the importance of staff understanding health and safety procedures in their workplace, and he suggested the introduction of behavioural safety programmes to achieve this. He said: “Health and safety affects all aspects of our lives and legislation is constantly changing.

“It is vital that businesses not only keep up to date with the law regarding health and safety, but also ensure that they have accurate risk assessments specific to their needs, appoint a responsible person or team to oversee the procedures and, perhaps most importantly, make sure that the staff understand the procedures and will implement them. Their safety is of paramount importance.”

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