Press Release

BSC calls for early safety training as roofing boss is jailed for teenager’s death

Wednesday, May 7 2008

The British Safety Council (the BSC) is today reminding bosses in the UK about their responsibilities towards young people in the workplace and stressing the importance of safety training in schools, before young people start their jobs. The warning follows the sentencing of a roofing firm boss for the manslaughter of teenager Daniel Dennis, who fell through a set of roof lights at a store in Cwmbran, Newport in 2003.
 
The BSC recently called for bosses to provide health and safety training to all workers after its survey ‘Safe & Sound?’ found that 2 out of 3 workers had received little or no training, leaving 20 million workers at risk. 
 
Young people in particular are at risk in first jobs, summer jobs or work experience – with 350,000 pupils on work experience each year, it is imperative that they have an awareness of the dangers that they can be exposed to in the working environment.
 
Brian Nimick, Chief Executive of the BSC, said: "The sentence today highlights the real dangers facing young people at work and the seriousness with which this is viewed by the courts. As well as the onus on bosses to do everything they can to protect their workers, there is a very real and pressing need for our young people to get the awareness training to protect themselves at work, and this should happen in schools."

"If students are given the skills they need early on, they will know the right questions to ask if employers send them into dangerous situations. The British Safety Council is paying for every 14-16 year old in the UK to take an Entry Level qualification in health and safety. Over 1,000 secondary schools have already registered.  We urge all schools to take up our offer so that we can see a real reduction in deaths and injuries in the workplace. We should all be working hard to eliminate incidents such as the tragic case of Daniel Dennis and the deaths of 66 under-19s in the last decade."

For further information/interviews contact Harriet Vocking 07974 940 959/01438 237 230