CONCERNS over employee safety have been raised after fatal and serious injuries suffered in the workplace were shown to be higher in Hillingdon than almost the entire rest of London.
There were 195 incidents where workers were injured or killed in Hillingdon during 2006/07 and this alarming figure puts the borough second worst behind the City of Westminster where 281 accidents occurred.
The information, based on reported cases to the Health and Safety Executive, has been released by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) to coincide with a debate on safety at the TUC Congress in Brighton.
Hillingdon's total works out to a ratio of 130.7 incidents for every 100,000 people of working age living in the borough. Sutton was found to be the safest with only 44 accidents and a ratio of 15.
Lesley Mercer, head of employment relations and union services at the CSP, said: "Despite legislation putting the responsibility for staff safety in the hands of employers, there is still an unreasonably high rate of workers being seriously, and even fatally, injured while doing their jobs.
"One major or fatal injury at work is one too many. Employers need to take immediate steps to ensure that workplace accidents are prevented and that all employees are protected from the potentially devastating effects."
Across London as a whole there were 2,819 accidents at a ratio of 72.2 per 100,000 people.
