Health and Safety Awareness Day

Health and Safety Awareness Day on 26 February is a reminder that behind every statistic is a person whose life can be changed in an instant when safety standards fail.

Figures from the Health and Safety Executive highlight the scale of the issue. In the latest data, 124 workers were killed in work-related accidents, while 680,000 people sustained an injury at work, according to the Labour Force Survey, with 40.1 million working days lost to work-related illness and injury.

Often, injuries at work have a devastating impact. Someone who knows this all too well is Steven, who lives in Ramsgate, was working for a scaffolding company on a construction site in Crawley when his life was turned upside down in 2021. While erecting scaffolding, he came into contact with overhead power lines that were not properly maintained or protected. The lack of adequate safeguards meant Steven was electrocuted while carrying out his job.

Ros spoke to Steven Gilmore & Jamie Day, senior associate at Slater and Gordon.