ONE of region's largest health and safety training schemes was launched by listed company PD Teesport yesterday.

The port operator will involve more than 400 of its 500 workforce in a training scheme which aims to cut down on accidents at the port.

Health and safety bosses yesterday praised the scheme, saying that if more employers did the same then the accident rate of 20 deaths at work a year in the North-East could come down.

Across the UK, there are 350 deaths a year from work-related accidents, and more than 200,000 accidents resulting in injury.

Managing director David Robinson said that PD Teesport, and the Learning and Skills Council, had invested a substantial sum in the training, which will give workers a vocationally-recognised qualification in safety.

He said: "We have generally had a good health and safety record.

"But as our volumes start to grow the risks get greater.

"A port is a very dangerous place to work. We are putting through steel slab from Corus, as well as containers, which are all massive weights and at the end of the day there are major risks there."