A GOVERNMENT ambassador for small businesses is backing the City of York Council's plan to encourage small ventures in the city to cut down on accidents.

Meg Munn, the Sheffield MP, recently appointed by the Department for Trade and Industry as sponsor for small business in the North of England, is personally backing the council's Good Neighbour Awards competition to encourage big firms to help smaller ones - and boost work place safety.

The council's food and safety unit will launch the competition across the city as part of the four-day European Health and Safety Week, starting next Monday.

Action was necessary because the council received 236 notifications of serious accidents and injuries in smaller workplaces in 2001/2002.

Of these, 23 per cent involved members of the public attending hospital; 19 per cent were caused by slip, trip or fall; nine per cent were from manual handling tasks.

Describing the competition as "an exciting initiative", the MP said: "Small businesses are essential to a thriving economy, and encouraging larger businesses to support them is an excellent way of helping them fulfil their responsibilities in the area of health and safety."

Even before the launch, a number of big city firms have already signed up to back the programme and offer help to smaller ventures, including Nestl.

The Federation of Small Businesses and York Business Advice Centre are also backing the competition which will run into next year.

Prizes will be awarded to firms coming up with the most interesting and helpful method of sharing their knowledge and expertise to help York's smaller companies comply with health and safety law.

Dawn Webster, the council's principal environmental health officer, said: "We are delighted with the support of Meg Munn and from the large businesses we have contacted so far

Updated: 12:07 Tuesday, October 08, 2002