British Safety Council Calls For Greater Awareness Of Workplace Risks

A workplace injury expert at Irwin Mitchell has backed the British Safety Council’s campaign to keep young people entering the world of work safe from harm.

The organisation is holding a series of events to raise awareness of the importance of health and safety in the workplace among younger people, with statistics showing such people are serious injured at work every 40 minutes.

According to the British Safety Council, every effort needs to be made to ensure parents, teachers and, most importantly, employers fulfil their duty of educating young people on the issue.

The campaign has been welcomed by Irwin Mitchell’s team of workplace injury specialists, who act for a number of people - young and old - who have been hurt in incidents which could have been avoided through the use of proper training and the provision of safety equipment.

David Urpeth, national head of workplace injury at the law firm, said: “Anything that encourages young people to recognise the risks at work and educates them to raise any concerns they have about safety is vital.

“We represent a number of people whose lives have sadly been turned upside down at an early stage in their careers due to employers not meeting their responsibilities.

"Young people are particularly vulnerable for a variety of reasons including their inexperience, their lack of confidence to challenge others and their desire to impress. "

“Young people need to know that they deserve access to the best possible safety equipment and training in order to carry out tasks in the workplace - and they should not be afraid to speak up when they feel this has not been met.

“Health and safety always need to be a priority in the workplace and it is vital that the problems seen in the past are not repeated in the future.”