Many workers suffering accidents at work have not been provided with the correct health and safety training

A new survey has shown that many people who suffer accidents at work have not had health and safety inductions.

The National Accident Helpline, which carried out the survey, found that 35% of those questioned had not had been given an induction when they joined their firm. A typical induction should include such information as who is responsible for the company’s first aid, safe use of equipment, safe use of machinery, manual handling and fire exits.

HSE data shows that 4,711,000 working days were lost in the UK during 2008-09 because of injuries in the workplace including almost a million due to slips, trips or falls.

Beth Powell, Director of the National Accident Helpline said: “This result shows that UK organisations still need to improve the way that they look after their staff’s safety at work and a health and safety induction for all new starters would be a key step towards this. More than 15,000 people a year contact National Accident Helpline after work accidents. Many of these would be avoidable with appropriate safety equipment, training and supervision.”