You’ve seen in the New Year, polished off the Christmas goodies and enjoyed a nice long break with the family…. so you should feel relaxed, refreshed and ready to go back to work, right? For many businesses, however, the period of time after a seasonal closedown has seen a spike in health and safety incidents, so why is this?

Brain drain!

When you think about it, an increase in the accident rate in January is probably not surprising. We all find it difficult to get back into ‘work mode’ after a holiday, so when the whole company has been on holiday at the same time, it can be a recipe for disaster! There are other factors too which contribute to this rise in safety incidents. Starting up the machinery again, for example, is not a typical everyday task and procedures might not be so well practised. PPE might have been lost or mislaid. Plus, any hazards that existed before the break – probably still do!

Winter hazards

On top of that, you have the bad weather that January brings with it – ice to slip on, frosty mornings and dark afternoons with poor lighting. You’ve just spent quality time with friends and family over Christmas; imagine the impact on your life if you had an accident on returning to work.

So, how can we change all this? See what we have done for BAE Systems