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Thought leaders search for the Holy Grail...No more working at height
accidents, EVER!!!
It promised to be a
highlight of this year’s Health & Safety Expo, and so it proved – six
of the UK’s leading health and safety organisations coming together
for the first time ever to discuss and debate how to eradicate falls
from height in the workplace. Their conclusion? The need for more
cooperation, better coordination, further education and improved long
term planning.
To watch the discussion via online video please
click here
Chaired by David
Thomas, safety, health and environment director at William Hare Ltd,
the panel consisted of Peter Bennett, chairman of the Access Industry
Forum (AIF); Joy Jones from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE);
Nigel Bryson OBE from the British Safety Council (BSC); Barry Holt
from the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM);
John Holden from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH),
and Roger Bibbings MBE from the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Accidents (RoSPA).
Key themes to emerge
included better leadership; the need to engage the workforce more
directly in safety issues; the avoidance of a ‘tick box’ approach to
training; improved targeting, especially of small to medium sized
firms in the construction sector, but, above all, the necessity to
pool and synchronise resources, knowledge and information. Roger
Bibbings urged all the organisations taking part in the discussion to
work together to help fill the void created by the cuts in the HSE’s
budget.
Two other AIF-sponsored
discussions also attracted capacity audiences and sparked lively
question and answer sessions: ‘Successful planning techniques for
working at height’ and ‘Maintaining effective work at height policies
in a tough economic climate’.
Comments Peter Bennett
for the Forum:
“The Holy Grail panel discussion was a ground
breaking event which, I am sure, will have positive, long term
consequences for the work at height sector in general. The spirit
evident in Birmingham augers well for a high degree of cooperation
between all the organisations taking part, with a view to reducing the
number of deaths and injuries resulting from falls from height.”
Also making a huge and
memorable contribution to the 2011 Knowledge Base programme was
motivational speaker, Jason Anker. Jason was paralysed from the waist
down as the result of an avoidable accident while working at height.
Each day he delivered a raw, powerful presentation designed to warn
everyone of the life shattering consequences of a fall.
The panel discussions
and individual presentations by AIF member organisations IPAF, NASC,
PASMA and the Ladder Association, and Jason Anker, will shortly be
available to watch again via online video on the Forum’s website
www.accessindustryforum.org.uk
May 2011 |
