Health & Safety ’10 Series gets off to a racing start

Health & Safety ’10 – South, endorsed by the IIRSM,
which addresses safety in construction, manufacturing
and in the public sector, is now in its fourth successful
year.Taking place at Sandown Park in Surrey on the
23rd and 24th February 2010, Georgina Bisby, looks at
why this event continues to go from strength to strength

Having attended these regional
health & safety events over the
past couple of years, I can say
from personal experience that one of the
main reasons behind its success is the
free seminar programme. Last year for
example, some seminars literally had
standing room only, and for good
reason. The event’s Official Educational
Partner, the British Safety Council, is
well-placed to be in touch with the
current issues facing those in the health
and safety sector and has tailored its
seminar programme accordingly.

Looking at the topics on the seminar
schedule for February’s event, it is clear
that this year will be no exception. More
details about what the seminar
programme has to offer HSM readers
can be found overleaf.

As well as the educational content of the
event, it’s important to remember that
there is also a substantial exhibition where
major equipment vendors, service
providers and distributors all have experts
available to answer direct queries
regarding application.
Major areas are well covered at the
exhibition with Personal Protection
Equipment (PPE) represented by experts
such as: 3M, Specsavers Optical
Superstores, ATG, Ansell, BM Polyco and
DuPont. There is much concern currently
about PPE equipment that is essentially a
cheap copy of original equipment or
equipment that comes with falsified CE
certificates. The exhibitors at Health and
Safety ’10 – South represent best practice
in the industry and can give advice on
how to spot this counterfeit and illegal
equipment as well as discussing individual
specialist applications
Recent HSE statistics show that over the
past year 2156 people died of
mesothelioma and thousands more of
other occupational cancers and lung
diseases. Therefore unsurprisingly
respiratory protection and gas detection is
addressed at the event with product
solution exhibitors such as Arco, MSA,
Industrial Scientific and asbestos
consultants ACEPSI.

Falls from height continue to be the
biggest cause of fatalities in the UK.

Chiefly in the construction sector but also,
sadly, across every single industry. Both
equipment providers, consultants and
training companies in this specialist area
are available in the exhibition area at
Health and Safety ’10 – South. Plus,
companies such as Scafftag, that offer status
tagging for all types of fall arrest equipment,
as well as scaffolding and access
equipment, can be found at the event.

With the implementation of the New
Machinery Directive at the end of 2009
questions on machinery safety and
hardware can be addressed by Laidler
Associates and Safety Systems while general
risk assessment advice can be sourced from
companies such as Aviva Risk
Management Solutions and Cardinus.

Beginning at Health and Safety ’10 –
South, another major piece of news
surrounding the 2010 regional safety
events is that they are now officially
endorsed by the IIRSM (International
Institute of Risk and Safety Management).

Speaking about this official endorsement
Kelvin Soley, marketing manager for the
IIRSM explained, saying: “We exhibited at
the northern event for the first time in 2009
and found that many of the visitors who we
spoke to were keen to learn what
membership of IIRSM really means. The
steady stream of visitors came from many
different businesses of varying sizes – it
proved a really worthwhile event and one
which we decided to make part of our
strategic approach going forward”.

The combination of the very latest health
and safety issues being addressed in the
educational programme by the foremost
authorities and the extensive exhibition
make the Health and Safety ’10 – South
event an essential visit for those in the
South of England. For those based
elsewhere in England or Scotland then
further information on alternative
locations can be found at:
www.healthandsafetyevents.co.uk.

To register in advance for any of the events
please visit the website. For those without
internet access registration can be
completed by calling the event helpline on:
0870 4866816.