Over recent years we have seen organisations continually invest into health and safety, but despite this during 2018/2019 there were 69,208 Non-fatal injuries to employees*, in 2019/2020 there were 111 fatal injuries* to workers and during 2017/2018 the annual cost of workplace injuries topped £5.2bn**
As an employer, you have certain responsibilities to your employees, as well as non-employees who you come into contact with. Although it is not always possible to prevent accidents taking place, it is possible to introduce additional measures to give you the best chance of defending a claim that may be brought against you.
Not all claims can be successfully defended, however, by having robust health and safety and investigation procedures in place, that are clearly documented, you will be able to significantly improve your chances.
It is not just the physical and emotional consequences of an incident that organisations need to be aware of. The HSE Costs to Britain model show that the cost to employers stood at £3.2bn and a report released by Zurich Insurance states that around 80% of risks faced by organisations are uninsurable, with some of these including:
Prosecution fines and legal costs associated with non-compliance with statutory requirements
Damage to an organisation’s reputation following a major incident
Loss of key staff together with retraining and further recruitment costs
Stress and low morale of staff involved in an incident
To help manage some of these risks, Zurich Insurance has released a guide covering:
The importance of risk management
Accident prevention
How risks can be managed
Accident investigation
Accident documentation
Fraud prevention
To download this, please click the link below.
Northern Risk Solutions are independent Insurance Brokers. We provide Insurance and Risk Management solutions to a range of different industries. If you would like to discuss your insurance requirements, please do not hesitate to contact us.
*source RIDDOR
** source HSE costs in Britain model