Cash for safety available to West Midlands enterprises

3.13.34pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 13th May 2003

€4 million is up for grabs for West Midlands small and medium-sized enterprises that want help in investing in health and safety in the workplace, Liz Lynne MEP announced today.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has recently launched a Community funding scheme focused on reducing safety and health risks in Europe's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Agency will provide 40-50 grants for European and national projects that contribute to the reduction of safety and health risks in SMEs through the development and dissemination of effective good practices that meet the relevant legislative requirements established by European directives and national legislation and guidance.

Up to 60% of a project's cost will be funded with grants ranging from €25,000 to €100,000.

The Liberal Democrats' Health and Safety spokesperson is encouraging SMEs in her constituency to take up this offer. Commenting, she said:

"The EU has a major role to play in establishing good health and safety practice. Grants such as these offer businesses the opportunity to make necessary improvements for the benefit of their workers in a relatively painless way. I hope companies across the West Midlands Euro-Region will apply for this funding."

The deadline for applying for funding is 23 June (or 30 June for trans-national projects).

Companies can look up http://osha.eu.int/sme2003/ for details.