SAFETY inspectors will tomorrow visit businesses in Felixstowe as part of blitz on accident prevention – and will take action where standards are not being met.

By Richard Cornwell

SAFETY inspectors visited businesses in Felixstowe as part of blitz on accident prevention - and warned employers they will take action where standards are not being met.

A team of ten inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive carried out checks at a number of firms, concentrating on transport at work, manual handling, working at height and "slips and trips".

The inspections are part of a campaign to cut the toll of death and serious injury at workplaces and come in the wake of a Health and Safety Commission report which sets targets for reducing accidents and ill-health in Britain's workplaces.

Health and safety failures currently cost Britain's employers up to £18 billion every year.

More than 25 million working days are lost annually with over a million workers suffering from work-related accidents and even more suffering from work-related ill health.

HSE inspector Eddie Scoggins said: "We were looking at activities that are classed as high-risk, like operating transport and working at height, which we know cause many of the most serious accidents in the workplace.

"I advise all businesses in the area to assess their health and safety standards, not just for the risks we are targeting but for all their activities.

"Poor health and safety standards at work not only put workers at risk of serious injury, but also can also seriously damage profits."

Inspectors gave advice and guidance and offered employers an opportunity to address any areas that needed attention.

The commission's report says that by 2010 the number of working days lost from work-related injury and ill-health shoud be cut by 30pc, and the rate of fatal and major injury accidents should be cut by 10pc.