Earlier this week, The Daily Express reported that West Midlands Police have paid out a staggering £589,000 in health and safety compensation over the past year.

This money was awarded to officers for such incidents as:

• Slipping on a wet floor
• Getting bitten by dogs
• Falling off a chair
• Tripping over in the dark

The Express article contains a short interview with Ray Egan, who used to be part of the force. Mr Egan is quick to blame Britain's "claim culture", adding:

"It's like a disease and people are jumping on the bandwagon. It's embarrassing."

But while there can be no doubt that £589,000 is a ludicrous sum of money, we at Label Source are a little worried by Mr Egan's eagerness to blame the claimants. The "claim culture" to which he alludes is very real, but the backlash against this culture - neatly exemplified by that Express article - is equally real, and it could cause big problems if it goes unchecked.

We'll use the 'wet floor' claim as an example. If a floor is wet enough to cause slips, it is the EMPLOYER'S responsibility to place wet floor signs around the area in question. If the West Midlands force failed to fulfil this basic safety measure, then the officer who slipped is entitled to compensation - and why shouldn't he claim it?

It's also worth noting that the reported figure (£589k) does include legal costs. The actual amount given to officers was £328,100; this is hardly any more encouraging, but it's important not to exaggerate when it comes to stories like this.

We see a lot of 'health and safety gone mad' news stories every week, but while silly things do occasionally happen (see this story - also from the Express, as it happens - about a suspected burglar in a tree), we shouldn't be turning the British public against H&S as a practice. Likewise, we ought not to blame the victims for the mistakes of their employers; companies MUST adhere to health and safety guidelines or suffer the same consequence as the West Midlands Police.

If your business is after warehouse labels or shipping labels, we believe we have both the stock and hallmark for quality to earn your custom. We make warehouse labels for a broad selection of different uses, and the effort we put into our quality guidelines means that once you’ve stuck them down somewhere, they are staying there!

The warehouse and shipping products we produce include label dispensers, packaging labels, stock control tags, floor markers, and shelf identification labels. No matter how you intend to use the warehouse labels you purchase from Label Source, we are mighty confident that we can produce a product that's perfect for your needs.

As anyone who is responsible for dispatching orders will tell you, identification is key! A wrongly-marked package or shipment can end up costing your company a fortune, so it really pays to be proactive and prevent this from happening - and how do you that? With adequate labelling, of course!

The shipping labels we create come with a range of optional features, including flouresenct designs for increased visibility, magnetic strips for metal surfaces, anti-slip properties for floor markers, and a whole host of other customisable options that are available should you need them. Basically, we have gone to great lengths to make sure your labels are purpose-designed for their use, and they are not going to go unnoticed either!

If you wish to have a closer look at our shipping and warehouse labels, you can do so here!

Just to make life a little easier for you the buyer, we thought we would write a short step-by-guide that tells you all you need to know about buying labels from our website. So without further ado…

1. The first thing you are going to need to decide is what kind of label you are looking for. This greatly depends on the type of sector you are in, and just where it is you are going to be placing the labels.

2. The next step depends entirely on what type of label you have chosen – if you have chosen one of our existing label designs, you are good to go. If, on the other hand, you have chosen a customised label, it is then your choice to design exactly what you want the label to say.

3. If you have chosen to customise your own label you will get the chance to do so using our label-builder, and you can even see on-screen exactly what your label will look like.

4. After that, you simply have to decide on the size and quantity of the labels you are purchasing. The larger the quantity you purchase, the cheaper price per label, so it really does make sense to buy in bulk.

5. And that’s pretty much it; we’ll send over your shiny, new, high-quality labels straight to you, and ready for sticking!

If you’re in a company that sends out a lot of parcels, you may be interested to learn that we stock a wide range of high-quality packaging labels. When sending out heavy, fragile, or multiple deliveries, it pays to inform the recipient exactly what they’re dealing with, so they avoid breakages, mishandling, or any other misdemeanours along the way.

Our packaging labels are seriously high quality – which is important, as if you are taking the time to inform users about your parcel, the last thing you want is a label that is easily damaged, or even worse, one that falls off!

Luckily for you, at Label Source our packaging labels are all made using a self-adhesive vinyl – so take it from us, they’re not going anywhere. On top of that, we make sure that all of our labels are text-based, as even seemingly-obvious pictograms can sometimes be misleading. And as all of our labels come in rolls of 500 you’ll have plenty to go around.

If you like the cut of our jib, and you fancy bagging yourselves a reputable label supplier, Label Source is the name you have to remember!

At Label Source, we have a wide selection of custom labels that you can fully design yourself, and to your specific needs. We stock resin domed decals, coloured destructible labels, custom metal finish labels, custom high temperature labels, and customer write and seal labels – all of which can be fully customised, personalised, and tailored to your requirements.

As well as being visually effective, there is also a lot to be said about the remarkably high standard of quality of our custom labels. Our resin domed labels have a clear polyurethane lens for maximum visual impact, while also remaining scratch-resistant, shatterproof, and waterproof. Our custom metal finish labels on the other hand come in a mirror finish polyester, and are also scratch and chemical resistant, while retaining an eye-grabbing finish!

Basically, our labels are designed to withstand anything the workplace throws at them, without losing any of their striking visual appeal in the process. If you require custom labels to warn, inform, or brand your company, you will struggle to find a more reputable, high-quality vendor than Label Source.