IT IS a heavyweight lift-off for York businesses' first Health And Safety Week.

In an unusual partnership, City of York Council's environmental health department and the Health And Safety Executive (HSE) have linked up to tell firms - especially small and medium-sized enterprises - how they can avoid disaster for their employees and their profits.

It is a bid to combat the latest annual figures which show that in the York district there were 493 injuries per 100,000 employees and, in Yorkshire as a whole, there were 3.4 million working days lost through injury and illness.

About 200 people converged on York's Guildhall yesterday for the start of the campaign for York As A Safer Working Community.

Already major firms and business organisations have signed up to back the push for an accident and injury-free city, including Norwich Union, Nestlé, York Designer Outlet, Asian restaurants like the Bengal Brasserie and the Jinnah and Business Link York and North Yorkshire.

The week marks a new co-operation which will see environmental health officers and HSE inspectors pooling manpower for joint inspections throughout the city. If successful in York, similar projects could be rolled out across the country.

Day one of the free conference was devoted to the problems of manual handling as well as slips, trips and falls in the workplace, while the afternoon beamed in on "smoke free England", fire and safety at work. For the licensed trade, there was a lecture entitled Best Bar None, and there was a general discussion on violence at work.

Today, York's environmental health inspectors will be dropping in on hospitality businesses like pubs, hotels and restaurants in the city centre, while HSE inspectors will visit industrial premises in and around the city.

David Snowball, the regional director for the Yorkshire and Humberside HSE said: "Some firms might be anxious about approaching the regulators because they fear facing their hot breath on their collar.

"I can reassure them that there is plenty of free advice they can get. My job is not to make myself popular but we do have an interest in seeing that firms do well. One person off with illness or injury can make the difference between getting or keeping a contract. The most important task we face is to get them to realise the task they face in managing health and safety."

Steve Adamthwaite, the council's principal environmental health officer, said: "This week offers free and expert advice on how to tackle health and safety issues in the workplace.

"We are not into this conkers bonkers' thing. It is a case of simple risk assessment."