If you and/or your employees work at height, it is crucial to ensure that all work is carried out as safely as possible. Today, we're going to answer some frequently asked questions on the subject of working at height - if you're not sure what's required of you, read on to find out more about height safety and what you should be doing about it:

What counts as 'working at height'?

The HSE website defines 'work at height' as any work carried out in "any place where, if there were no precautions in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury". You don't have to be a specific distance above the ground before you qualify - if there's a chance you could fall and hurt yourself, you're working at height.

How far can I fall without hurting myself?

Again, there's no objective answer to this question: if you suffer a fall, the severity of your injuries will depend on your age, your weight, the surface on which you land, the way in which you land, and dozens of other factors besides the exact height you fell from. People have been known to survive falls from several kilometres high; conversely, people have been seriously injured and even killed by falls of a few feet or even less. This is why there is no specified limit to what constitutes 'working at height' - even the smallest of falls can be catastrophic!

What precautions are legally required when working at height?

We answered this question last month - the Work at Height Regulations 2005 don't specify any particular equipment or required safety measures, but they do state the need for "sufficient work equipment" and a proper assessment of any height safety risks. It's basically up to you to decide what precautions and which pieces of equipment will best protect you and your workers, but you won't get away with not doing anything.

What should I use to protect my workers?

Your main aim when selecting height safety equipment should be to prevent a fall from occurring. This can be achieved with safety harnesses and fall arrest blocks. Some kind of edge protection system can also help to minimise the risk of an accident. Otherwise, height safety generally depends on common sense - see our height safety fails blog for some examples of what not to do.

Need some height safety equipment? Visit our Working at Height department.

Earlier this year, Ben Hiscox - an avid footballer and a valued member of the SafetyLiftinGear sales team - was killed in a footballing accident at the age of 30. In the wake of Ben's tragic passing, we set up the Ben Hiscox Memorial Fund to honour his memory and provide financial support for those he left behind. Our aim was to raise £10,000, and we are pleased to announce that this target has now been reached.

The grand total was £10,155.54, which was presented to Ben's partner Zoe Mathews last week (see photo above). This money will be used to:

• Support Ben's family during this very difficult time
• Place a memorial bench for Ben in Stoke Gifford
• Donate to Headway, a brain injury charity that would have helped Ben to recover from his injury had the circumstances been different

We would like to say a huge 'thank you' to everyone who donated - we know that Ben's family were devastated by his death, and his presence is sorely missed here at SafetyLiftinGear.

If you would like to donate to the Ben Hiscox Memorial Fund, you can do so here.

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Last week, the SafetyLiftinGear team attended the ABTT Theatre Show at Alexandra Palace in London. We think it's safe to say that the event went terrifically well - not only did we meet lots of new clients and interesting people, we actually came away from Alexandra Palace with a new trophy for the SLG cabinet!

Our Duke DCH battery-powered chain hoist was chosen as ABTT's Widget of the Year 2015, which is an award for the most useful product at the show. The trophy we received is pictured above alongside the prize-winning hoist itself (thanks to Meg and Lucy for their modelling skills!)

Here's what the ABTT judges had to say about the Duke DCH:

"The judges were very impressed with this product, and expect to see them in numerous applications and in the hands of many technicians soon, especially considering the budget conscious price tag. The benefits of a lightweight battery-powered motor capable of lifting 250kg or 500kg are huge. This is exactly the type of tool that will help solve many of the problems that working technicians have to deal with daily, offering a safe way to haul without needing large power and control infrastructure."

We were thrilled to receive this award from the Association of British Theatre Technicians, and we hope that everyone else enjoyed this year's show as much as we did!

Buy the Duke DCH battery-powered electric chain hoist here:

• 250kg hoist
• 500kg hoist

We sell a variety of ratchet lashings here at SafetyLiftinGear; today, we're going to take a look at the finer details of the products we offer, helping you to select the right ratchet strap for your requirements.

• Materials: Our ratchet straps are made of high-quality, hard-wearing polyester yarn. This makes them very strong and inherently shock absorbent.

• Hooks: The majority of our ratchet lashings come with hooks for attachment, and the type of hook varies from product to product. Some have rave hooks, while others have claw hooks or delta links; we also supply several endless ratchet straps with no hooks fitted.
  
  
• Strength: One of the most important things to look for when purchasing a ratchet lashing is the minimum breaking strength (MBS), which denotes how much force the strap can withstand without snapping. Each of the ratchet straps we sell has a different MBS, ranging from 500kg to 10 tonnes - before making a purchase, please ensure that your chosen product has a suitable MBS for your requirements, as exceeding the minimum breaking strength can be very dangerous.
  
  
• Length: Our range is very flexible in terms of length - most of our ratchet straps come in several different sizes, so you can select a length that suits your needs. Available lengths range from 4 metres to 20 metres in some cases.
  
  
• Accessories: In addition to the ratchet straps themselves, we also sell a variety of additional products, including wear sleeves (designed to extend the lifespan of ratchet lashings) and corner protectors (ideal for protecting your straps from sharp corners).

Click here to see our full range of ratchet straps, or watch the video below to see how they are used.

We love making our customers happy here at SafetyLiftinGear, and so it makes us particularly happy when customers get in touch to give us some glowing feedback!

Here are a few of the positive reviews we've received via Twitter in recent months - if you want to talk to us about anything, give @GearSafe a tweet today!

Impressed? Want to experience our top-notch customer service for yourself? Get in touch now, or click here to return to the SafetyLiftinGear homepage!

Load restraint isn't a particularly complicated science: all you have to do is make sure that your goods don't fall off the vehicle that's transporting them from A to B. Not exactly brain surgery, is it?

And yet we still see far too many instances of half-hearted load restraint, which all too often results in a scene like this:

Improper load restraint can be very costly if your goods get damaged, but more importantly, an accident like the one pictured above can be life-threatening. What if your unsecured load crashes into another vehicle, or hits a passing pedestrian?

The need for adequate load restraint is very pressing indeed, though if you're reading this, you've probably recognised that already. Here, then, are a few tips that will help you to keep everything secure and protect the people around you:

• Use the right ratchet straps. We sell a variety of ratchet straps here at SLG, and each one has a different lashing capacity and minimum breaking strength. The lashing capacity is the maximum tension that the strap in question is capable of sustaining; the minimum breaking strength is the maximum force that the strap will withstand when properly secured. Check this information when purchasing ratchet lashings, and ensure that the products you use are suitable for the task at hand.
  
  
• Ensure that lashings are properly secured. Ratchet lashings are available with a variety of different fittings (including claw hooks, delta links, and rave hooks); obviously, you'll need to select the right fitting for your requirements, but on an even more basic level, you MUST ensure that all straps are properly attached and secured before setting off. Even the very best load restraint products are useless if not properly used!
  
  
• Consider additional/alternative load restraint measures. Ratchet lashings are the preferred method of load restraint, but you may benefit from using other products such as bungee cords, loadbinders, and cargo bars to make absolutely sure that nothing is going anywhere.

In a nutshell, our advice is this: assess your loads properly, choose an appropriate load restraint method (or methods) for the job, and ensure that everything has been properly secured before beginning your journey.

SafetyLiftinGear's full collection of load restraint equipment can be found here - feel free to email sales@safetyliftingear.com if you have any further questions.

Whatever you're hoisting, we can help!

We at SafetyLiftinGear consider ourselves to be the lifting experts, and as such, we always endeavour to provide a suitable solution for every heavy lifting job imaginable.

To this end, we offer a wide variety of high-quality hoisting equipment that's perfectly suited to all sorts of circumstances. For example...

• If you're on a tight budget, our budget wire rope hoists will get the job done for less.
  
  
• Our electric hoists are all available in both a 240 volt and a 110-volt option to suit all environments.
  
  
• Need something a little more heavy-duty? Our three-phase electric hoists are capable of lifting 1 tonne or more!
  
  
• Those who work in live performance venues such as theatres and concert areas may appreciate our stage rigging hoists. They have all the same properties as our other high-quality hoisting products, but their all-black design will ensure that they blend into the background during the show.
  
  
• Finally, we recently added several Elephant Hoists to our range of hoisting equipment. These heavy-duty hoists are made in Japan, and they have an outstanding reputation for quality and reliability.

If you need something more specific, please get in touch - our team of specialist often provide made-to-order solutions for clients with special requirements. So no matter your needs, we are able to offer the hoisting equipment that you need.

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