RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

February 10, 1999
SAFETY MESSAGE TO BOSSES AT NATIONAL EVENT

Bosses will be urged to put health and safety at the top of their business agenda during a national conference organised by The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

The RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Congress 1999 will look at various issues, including health and safety for youngsters on work experience, managing stress at work, and motivating managers to tackle occupational health and safety.

The event will be held at the Birmingham NEC in May, alongside the Health and Safety Expo 1999 Exhibition, and will include the presentation of the 1999 RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards, sponsored by RMC.

Roger Bibbings, RoSPA Occupational Safety Adviser, said: "The scale of harm and loss still associated with the failure to prevent accidents and ill-health at work confirms that questions of safety and health are not receiving the priority they truly deserve.

"Research shows that every year there are some 1.26 million workplace injuries and about 2.1 million cases of ill-health caused by or made worse by work, which results in some 29 million lost working days."

The main two-day programme will be followed by a one-day seminar on Managing Occupational Road Risk, sponsored by Zurich, aimed at encouraging employers to take more responsibility for their drivers’ safety while out on the roads.

Other items on the agenda include the results of a discussion exercise carried out with the Health and Safety Executive on employers’ responsibilities to investigate accidents at work - one of RoSPA’s key areas for action.

The congress is on May 10, and May 11, followed by the Managing Occupational Road Risk seminar on May 12. It will be held in the Concourse Suite at the NEC, while the exhibition will be in Halls 7 and 8.