MANY of the 200 serious workplace accidents reported to the Health and Safety Authority each year were preventable and companies should develop a "safety culture" to protect their employees and their profitability, the employers' lobby group IBEC said yesterday.

Publishing two information packs designed to heighten public awareness in both the Republic and the North of the true human and financial cost of accidents, IBEC and several other groups said the hotel, catering, retail and distribution sectors could do much to protect themselves.