Westminster employers are urged to take more action to cut down on deaths and horrific injuries in the workplace in the wake of a new report that says the borough has the worst record of fatal and major injuries in London.
A league table released by the chartered society of physiology says that Westminster had 281 fatal and major inuries last year, with the next worst borough having 195. Kensington and Chelsea had 101, and Hammersmith and Fulham saw just 61 people badly hurt.
Occupational safety head at leading accident charity RosPA Roger Bebbings said: "Behind these figures in each case there is a story of suffering, and the more employers become wise to the dangers the more pain and injury can be avoided. Central city areas can also have a lot of accidents caused by major building works, so that may account for the extra high figures in some areas."
The figures for injuries are bad enough but Mr Bebbings believes that the numbers are only the tip of an iceberg of traumatic events that can hit the unwary employer or worker.
"There's a lot of ignorance around, and we've got to get real about this issue that affects many lives," said Mr Bebbings.
He said that people were becoming "contemptuous" of health and safety issues because of myths about over-zealous safety "jobsworths" and their actions.
"In inner London boroughs you've also got many accidents that haven't been included in this survey - like things which are related to driving for work reasons. Employers must become more aware of what loads and what routes they're asking their drivers to take. I would appeal to Westminster employers to develop systematic methods of stopping these needless accidents."
