By Capel C.S
Every year, Capel C.S supports the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) annual campaign on April 28 focusing on raising awareness to provide a safe & healthy workplace for employees.
ILO’s 2023 focus for their World Day for Safety and Health at Work campaign is the critical need for employers to provide a safe & healthy working environment as a fundamental right.
Every day 6,300 people die as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases, resulting in 2.3+ million deaths and 317 million on-the-job accidents yearly.
Paul Coomber, Director of Capel C.S. Ltd, said: “As UK Employers, we have a duty to care for our employees, which includes the provision of a safe workplace as a basic human right.
“The nature of our labour-first industry brings daily OSH risks & challenges, which should lead us to continuously improving our working conditions, systems and duties, in order to provide a safe and healthy culture at all levels.
“This is why Capel aims to encourage other employers to actively consider whether OSH is naturally seen as a fundamental right on a daily basis for our employees.”
Paul describes employees and the public at the core of the organisation’s values, projects and work.
He adds: “As a RISQS-accredited contractor in the GB Rail and Construction industries for circa 30 years, H&S has always been a pivotal factor in our projects, daily protocols, systems and culture.
“There is a duty for both employers and employees of the culture to understand H&S as a basic right, considering this is a subject of integrity, values, equality, ethics and much more.”
The ILO recently shared that only 41 per cent of the ILO Member States with a recording and notification system in place, actually provided data to the ILO in the past five years.
“This should make all employers and members question whether we are progressing with our resolutions and improvements in the workplace, as much as daily OSH challenges do,” Paul said.
Other focuses previously shared in the yearly campaign by ILO include:
- Investing in resilient occupational safety and health systems
- Improving the safety and health of young workers Collection and use of OSH data
- Workplace stress
- Building a culture of prevention in OSH.
Paul said: “As construction contractors, we carry various industry-specific accreditations, and follow daily specialised routines & OSH protocols which get reviewed monthly and are continuously communicated to all employees.
“In these upcoming years, we will also aim to work towards achieving the ISO 45003 accreditation, which focuses on our employees’ mental wellbeing as a core of our H&S at work.
“As we continue to grow & embark on new projects, we remain focused on improving our support in a holistic way for our employees.
“Capel C.S. are honoured to be working with some of the UK’s leading TOCs and construction contractors, being an integral part of our commercial infrastructure as well as public transport network.
“We encourage all employers to remain focused on constantly improving the H&S culture at the workplace, ensuring we are treating it as a fundamental human right for everyone.”
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Photo credit: Capel C.S
