A COUNCIL boss is “dismayed” after the number of days staff took off due to accidents skyrocketed in just three months.

Brighton and Hove City Council chief executive Penny Thompson has called for a campaign to remind her staff to take care of themselves and colleagues after learning of the steep rise.

Among the most common type of incidents forcing staff to miss time off work were violent or aggressive incidents, collisions with other colleagues or employees walking into doors.

Unions placed the blame on cutbacks to council resources which put staff under increased pressure and reductions in maintenance of council owned buildings.

The number of lost working days at the city council resulting from health and safety incidents has more than tripled in the last quarter from 204 days between July 1 and September 31 to 642 between October 1 and December 31.

One staff member has been off work for more than two months following a slip in a council canteen while another is off work following a fall on a steep slope outside a client’s house.

The number of slip, trip and fall incidents is on pace to exceed 200 for this financial year – well ahead of 2013/14’s total of 168.

More than 230 health and safety incidents were reported in just three months at a rate of more than two a day.

As well as council staff, a large number of the incidents and injuries have been suffered by residents and school pupils.

UNISON officer Diana Leach said there could be a number of reasons for the sharp rise including overworked and stressed staff, the weather and increased emphasis on reporting incidents.

She said: “Staff are having to work extremely hard, rushing about their business to get work done “We also need to look at maintenance, a lot of schools will say they don’t have the budget for maintenance and there are fewer staff who take care of these premises.

“There could be more health and safety training courses, and more inspections as well, and staff need to be more aware not to rush going down the stairs, its sounds obvious but injuries happen when you rush too much.”

Ms Thompson wrote in her blog: “I was quite dismayed by the number of trips and falls that have caused colleagues across the council and our schools to experience some nasty injuries and some significant periods off work.

“We will be doing some campaigning and communications to remind us all to take care of ourselves and colleagues.

“I can’t stress how important it is that we do take health and safety seriously.”