Health and safety is small firms' "lowest priority"

A survey by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has revealed that small businesses are failing to prioritise improvements in workplace health and safety.

The HSE’s Better Business campaign asked 300 small firms for their “new year’s resolutions” towards the end of last year.

The main areas in which employers said they planned to make improvements in 2006 were financial systems and marketing, followed by staff training and IT systems.

“With so many things to focus on, health and safety gets pushed to the bottom of the list of priorities,” an HSE spokesperson said. “Yet many health and safety improvements are not necessarily expensive and can be easily put in place.”