Ignoring health and safety can cost your business serious money – so it really is worth making a small investment in training.

Every day businesses discover to their own cost that ignoring health and safety and putting off training your staff for another day is a false economy. Simply type ‘health and safety fines’ in Google and you will find an endless list of companies who ignore the risks placing employees and often themselves in danger.

The HSE has been busy clamping down on those who flout health and safety in Wales. As a result of one investigation, it was announced this month (April) that the owners of a Cardiff roofing company have been sentenced after repeatedly putting their workers at risk by ignoring urgent orders to improve safety.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) issued a Prohibition Notice after finding employees were being put at risk of a potentially fatal fall from height. Three workers were spotted replacing tiles on a sloping roof near an unprotected gable end of a three-storey building at Thornhill Court in Cardiff on 5 August 2010.

Cardiff Magistrates Court heard the employees were working between eight and ten metres above the ground. A visiting HSE inspector issued the notice ordering work to stop immediately until safety barriers were put in place on the roof. The owner of the company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, fined £5,985 and ordered to pay costs of £1,800.

This could have been a lot worse, according to the HSE, falls from height are the single biggest cause of fatalities in the construction industry.

So is it really worth risking a fine or worse? Call us on 01978 660 000 to book your health and safety course in Wrexham today.