Another winner on course for Sandown
December 1st 2007

At this point in 2006 Health & Safety Matters was discussing a new series of regional health and safety events which combined a powerful mix of free educational content and a product and service exhibition. These proved to be an extremely worthwhile addition to the calendar in 2007. Georgina Bisby of Health & Safety Matters looks forward to The Health and Safety 08 events, the first of which takes place in February at Sandown Park in Surrey

A look back at Bolton

The second of the Health and Safety 07 events, held at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton in October was a huge success with a great mix of seminar content and a diverse range of the top companies exhibiting safety products and services.

The most popular attraction proved to be the free seminar programme which was delivered by industry experts and by IOSH members representing the Manchester and North West Districts Branch. Mark Harrison of GSH Building Fabric, a visitor, encapsulated all that was good about the educational content saying: "The seminars at the event were excellent, particularly the Working at Height paper which contained a perfect mix of the practical and the theoretical. The fact that the seminars were free and that I could also gain CPD (Continuing Professional Development) points by attending was a huge bonus. I will certainly try and attend again next year." The Reebok exhibition was very busy on both days of the event with Paul Clow, UK and Scandinavian Regional Manager for DuPont Personal Protection commenting: "For the visitor, the quality and diversity of the seminar programme and the exhibitor offering encompassed all the requirements of a health and safety show, reflecting the many complex issues that affect the health, safety and wellbeing of today's workforce.

"As sponsor of Health & Safety 07, we have been delighted with response to this compact and concise event, which will continue to improve and grow. It has given us the opportunity to help bring together a comprehensive package of education and safety products to a local audience."

Looking forward to Sandown The first Health and Safety 08 event of the New Year will be held at Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey, on 26th and 27th February 2008. The Sandown events' seminar programme, delivered by industry experts and by IOSH members representing the London Metropolitan Branch, is due to have some new elements that reflect the latest thinking regarding occupational health.

While more employers are becoming aware of the need to promote a healthy lifestyle by offering 'stop smoking' or lunchtime exercise classes to employees, if they really want to improve the health of their workforce, they should address problems such as stress and poor office design that are really making their staff ill, the TUC said recently.

It is the working environment that often makes staff ill or unhealthy, and employers are urged to avoid working arrangements that leave employees desk-bound for long periods of time. Similarly, workplaces with poorly managed workloads or where bullying is rife can increase employees' stress levels.

Topical seminar programme The seminar programme is to address these concerns with IOSH delivering a seminar on ergonomics on the first day of the event and on stress in the workplace on the second day. While the seminar programme is yet to be finalised other topics to be covered by IOSH members include: managing contractors; investigating fatalities and noise and vibration

While covering new, occupational health, issues the seminars at The Health and Safety 08 event will also cover on-going areas of concern such as Working at Height; Manual Handling and PPE.

The practical element of the educational content is set to be maintained with Mike Denton of Aearo delivering a seminar at Sandown entitled: Hearing protection - Just Legal or Just Right? This seminar is set to address the confusion surrounding exposure limits, action values, real world attenuation and correction factors and to encourage more thought on what a hearing conservation programme is aiming to achieve. Plus, any impression that, with the addition of the new health-related seminars, the event had 'gone soft' is negated by seminar topics such as: Electrostatic Ignition Hazards in the Chemical Process Industries.

The full seminar programme is available to view at www.healthandsafetyevents.co.uk. Having seen the large audiences at the Bolton event it is advisable to register in advance for seminars. At least that way you will get a set of papers and a seat!

Diverse range of exhibits While the free seminar element of the event is very attractive to potential visitors, the exhibition element of Health and Safety 08 is also impressive with a great many of the well known names in the health and safety industry exhibiting their product or service offering. PPE providers such as Ansell and Aearo Technologies have a strong presence, as of course do sponsors DuPont. Other interesting PPE providers include safety glove manufacturer BM Polyco and workwear and underwear specialist Praybourne.

Respiratory protection is an area which is well catered for also, both in terms of physical protection equipment and consultancy services. BW Technologies, Shawcity and Industrial Scientific are all major players in the gas detection industry while ACAD, Airborne Environmental Consultants and Asbestos Consultancy Services can offer advice and training regarding environmental concerns.

Noise and vibration, as its high position on the health and safety agenda dictates, has a number of solution providers who can offer assistance in this area. Five Sides Industrial can help organisations to implement an effective strategy relating to the management of vibration as stipulated by The Control of Vibration at Work Act 2005 while Pulsar Instruments is one of the exhibitors showing measurement equipment for occupational noise at work compliance.

Demonstrating the continuing trend for those with health and safety responsibilities to get involved in wider areas there are many exhibitors whose solutions deal with the environment generally, the presence of The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health being a great example.

Fosse and Safety Unlimited provide a large range of drum handling and spill control equipment while Praxis42 offer environmental management software.

The diversity of disciplines covered by the exhibition is extremely impressive with materials handling, first aid and machinery safety all well-represented. Another area worthy of mention is training with many companies, such as Principal People, able to offer accredited training across a number of different areas.

More consultancies In fact the range of health and safety areas addressed by the exhibition is due to expand further for 2008 as Tim Else, exhibition director explained saying, "While we will of course have many exhibitors covering PPE, noise and vibration, respiratory protection, first aid etc. we have listened to our visitors and will hope to provide more in the way of consultancies in 2008. Experts that are able to provide assistance in areas of risk assessment and risk management in specialist areas such as construction and manufacturing are, so we are told, difficult to source and so we aim to help in this area."

Positive experience for time-pressured visitor These regional Health and Safety events have proved to be a valuable addition to the safety calendar. With the breadth of information available a visit represents a positive use of time for visitors from virtually any industry. The little extras, such as free seminars and free Continued from page 22 parking all really do help to provide a worthwhile experience for the time-pressured visitor.

For more information and registration visit: www.healthandsafetyevents.co.uk

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