In an ironic turn, the Health and Safety Executive, the governmental body charged with enforcing health and safety regulations in the workplace, recently reported suffering 53 cases of its employees suffering personal injury at work over the past 12 months.
According to the Daily Mail newspaper, who filed a freedom of information request regarding the personal injury claims, employees of the HSE suffered several different types of injuries. One HSE worker injured two of his fingers after he placed them inside a fan, another suffered bruising after he was hit by a falling toilet roll holder, and yet another fell over a ‘Caution Wet Floor’ sign and suffered a groin strain, according to the report.
The figures, which were logged by the officers of the health and safety regulatory watchdogs, are in reference to accidents that had taken place across the seventeen HSE offices that are spread throughout the UK. The most incidents were found to have occurred in Bootle, at the HSE’s Liverpool branch, with a total of ten accidents at work being reported.
The HSE’s London offices were also found to be one of the more dangerous branches of the governmental body. One worker suffered injuries after walking into a box, the report found, while another employee suffered scalding burns after hot coffee was spilled upon them.
One HSE spokesman remarked that the organisation records every incident that occurs, including minor incidents and near misses. Additionally any accidents that involve visitors to HSE buildings or contractors are likewise added to the list, the spokesman also said.
Luckily for HSE employees, the number of severe injuries suffered was actually quite low, the spokesman concluded.