At time of going to press, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) released their annual update of health and safety statistics on work-related injury, ill health, enforcement, and costs in Great Britain. The HSE stats will highlight some key figures. Sadly, in my experience this will mean…
• Millions of working people suffering from a work-related illness
• Hundreds of thousands of working people sustaining an injury at work according to the Labour Force Survey
• Tens of millions working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury
• Tens of billions of pounds in cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions (2018/19)
We know that protecting the worker with personal protective equipment (PPE) is the least effective element of the Hierarchy of Controls. PPE is vital in many situations, but it should only be the last line of defence.
To fulfil the Tower mission to ‘Make The Workplace A Better Place’, we work in partnership with customers to change the way people work, such as administrative controls, which are a much more important and effective stage of the hierarchy.
When you work with Tower, PPE can also mean ‘Premium Partnership Experience’. Beyond the supply of PPE, Tower ensures that the wearer also knows how to use, care, and maintain their PPE. We’re able to support our customers to ensure the right combinations of PPE are used, and we have a system to help monitor this. Ineffective PPE might look the part, but it wouldn’t work as the last line of defence, potentially resulting in irreversible harm. Remember, just because it fits, doesn’t mean the wearer is protected.
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