Mar 15 2010
Charitable organisation, the British Safety council is offering free health and safety qualifications to its members, to 14 – 19 year olds and to those currently not in employment in a bid to increase awareness of safety at work.
The Level one Certificate in Health and Safety at Work is being made available free of charge to member organisations, with the Entry Level certificate being offered freely in to secondary schools who sign up. The organisation is also working with the Prison Service, Salvation Army and other organisations to enable those who are unemployed and not in education or training to obtain the qualifications.
Michael Jefferies of accident claims solicitors, First Personal Injury, believes that the initiative will have ongoing value when it comes to improving health and safety standards in the workplace, saying that, "Health and Safety is critically important in the workplace and plays a core part in accident prevention. Obviously, the sooner in their working lives that young people are made aware of the basics of health and safety, the better. So for recent school leavers to be already entering the workplace with a basic understanding of the principals of safety is absolutely excellent."
There are over 200,000 injuries in the workplace each year and in 2008/2009 180 people were killed as the result of an accident at work. The figures are alarming and Michael is no stranger to dealing with those injured at work: "We've helped lots of people who have been injured as a result of a Health and Safety oversight at work. While the severity of the injuries varies, one frequently occurring theme is that many of these are accidents that can be avoided just by following the guidelines."
It is hoped that making Health and Safety qualifications more freely accessible will see an improved level of workplace safety.
SOURCE First Personal Injury