Business people strong on safety first (5)
I believe the answer is:
firms
'business people' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'strong on safety first' is the wordplay.
'strong' becomes 'firm' (synonyms).
'on' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'safety first' becomes 's' (1st letter of 'safety').
'firm'+'s'='FIRMS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for firms that I've seen is " Companies".)