Safety ladders, walkovers, and safety barriers used as a form of edge protection can all help to reduce the risk of an injury, but it is also important to ensure staff are properly trained in how to use them or how to work near them.
The British Safety Council says young workers are 50% more likely to suffer a workplace accident than their older counterparts – and this can have serious consequences.
Alex Botha, chief executive of the British Safety Council, says: “In the UK last year 148 people died at work, 21,000 were seriously injured and around 27 million working days were lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury.
“Workplace injuries and ill health cost society an estimated £13.8 billion.”
The organisation is now urging schools to ensure students aged 14-19 are given adequate teaching on issues of workplace safety, to tackle this “disproportionately high” incident rate among the young.
However, for employers, sensible precautions like safety ladders, edge protection in the form of safety barriers, and walkovers for weak roofs can combine to provide an extra layer of safeguards for employees of all age groups.