Important new 'Fit 3' programme to reduce accidents and ill health at work
23 May 2006:
Councils across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (IoW) have teamed up with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to introduce a new programme to reduce accidents and ill health - and to make your business safer and more profitable. The programme is called 'Fit 3', i.e. "Fit for Work, Fit for Life, Fit for Tomorrow".
Fit 3 will move away from the more traditional health and safety inspections to focus on new methods of intervention, concentrating on priorities that will best deliver the targeted reduction in injury and ill health.
The Fit 3 priorities are:
Slips & Trips, Falls From Height, Workplace Transport, Contact Dermatitis, Occupational Asthma, Asbestos Management, Stress and Manual Handling.
Businesses need to comply with health & safety law; so a series of briefings are being offered.
The first briefing is the Height Aware campaign, which will raise awareness of working at height, the associated risks and how to select the most appropriate precautions and choose the right equipment to carry out the work safely. The Height Aware campaign is for those who work in any place at, above or below ground level, where someone could be injured if they fell from that place; i.e. electricians, mechanical and electrical fitters, painters and decorators, window cleaners, TV/video/audio engineers, caretakers; and facilities managers, commercial landlords, estates and building managers, housing associations and other landlords, etc.
Details of the briefing are:
Date: Monday 26 June
Time: 12:30 - 14:30
Venue: The Rose Bowl, Southampton
Contact: Carly Haines
Email: [carly.haines@southampton.gov.uk]
Tel: 02380 832 323
For more information about 'Fit 3' contact:
Contact: Tracy Heath, Principal Environmental Health Officer
Address: Southampton City Council, Environmental Health, Southampton City Council, Southbrook Rise, 4-8 Milbrook Road East, Southampton, Hampshire SO15 1YG
Tel: 023 8083 3581
Email: [tracy.heath@southampton.gov.uk]
Did you know that:
- 40 million working days are lost to injury and ill health every year in the UK. That is paid for by you, your business and our local economy
- Falling from height is the most common cause of workplace fatalities
- In 2004/05, 53 people died and 3800 were seriously injured falling from height at work
- 60% of these injuries resulted from people falling distances from below head height
- Ladder accidents alone cost our economy £60 million each year.
The Fit 3 campaign will bring about a reduction in these figures. The target is that by 2008, Fit 3 will deliver a:
- 3% reduction in work related fatal & major injuries;
- 6% reduction in work related ill health;
- 9% reduction in days lost due to work related injuries and ill health.
