Everyone 'must take responsibility for health and safety'

Every single person must concern themselves with health and safety at work, a key member of a national watchdog claims.

President of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) Nattasha Freeman, in a letter to the Express and Echo, warns employees to be aware of how protected they actually are.

Describing health and safety as something which is more than simply the preserve of experts, she calls on people to engage more completely with the subject.

"Just take a few minutes to think about the tasks you do each day, re-tune your mind o the potential health and safety hazards to yourself and others," she writes.

Calling on employees to dismiss the idea they will be protected simply because they are in the workplace, Ms Freeman describes the setting as one in which people may not return.

In recent related news, the IOSH president told an annual industry dinner a single accident is capable of putting a firm out of business.