Health & safety: An investment not a cost

Spending on workplace health and safety should be seen as an investment and not a cost, according to the Director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).

Jukka Takala warned against organisations 'abandoning long term benefits for short term gains, by reducing health and safety budgets in difficult times.With 80% of European managers reporting workplace accidents as the main concern, we cannot afford to make cuts in workplace health and safety.' The EU-OSHA's annual report acknowledges that 2009 was a difficult one throughout Europe, with many economies struggling to emerge from recession. EU-OSHA has seen increases in many of the health and safety problems that affect European workers, as they have to absorb work previously done by workers who have been made redundant, and as they suffer from greater stress.

In fact, findings from a recent ESENER survey show that 52% of managers in Europe think that time pressure contributes to psychosocial risks in their company.