Health & Safety

21Apr2017

Endless Lifting Slings From SafetyLiftinGear

mike health & safety

Heavy lifting operations require the use of equipment that is highly reliable and secure, which is why we supply a variety of specially designed endless lifting slings here at SafetyLiftinGear. Each sling is made from high-quality polyester webbing which is flexible yet strong, making them an ideal alternative to lifting wires and chains, especially when the operation involves more fragile items.

In order to ensure that your sling is tailored to the demands of your operation, we also supply our endless lifting slings in a variety of lengths and weight limits, allowing you to select an item that meets the exact needs of your application. These range from slings for applications between and 1 and 6 tonne, to those which are suitable for heavy-duty applications, with a lifting ability of between 10 and 50 tonne!

Here's a closer look at one of our endless lifting slings, which is suitable for 5 tonne applications:

In addition to our slings, we also supply additional accessories to be used during the lifting process, including hooks which can be used to lift or join two slings together.

Benefits of using our slings:

Each sling comes with an ID label which highlights all the relevant information for performing a safe and stable lift.
Slings are available in a choice of lengths depending on your requirements, stating from as small as 0.5m through to 6m.
All of our endless lifting slings have a safety factor of 7:1.
LiftinGear slings are designed to offer excellent value for money, without sacrificing the quality of the product.

To see our full selection of endless lifting slings, click here!

18Apr2017

Ladder Security: Safe Work Procedures for Ladders

mike health & safety

When working at heights, ensuring your ladder is secure is a vital requirement. Simple checks and precautions taken before using a ladder can help reduce the risk when using it and help keep you safe. With over 6,000 deaths and 30,000 injuries caused by falling from ladders every year, safe work procedures for ladders are more important than ever before. Here are just a few tips on how you can keep secure when working at heights.

More...

23Mar2017

Three People Jailed for Attempting to Cover Up Height Safety Failings

mike health & safety

Last week, a judge at Manchester Crown Court sent three people to jail. Why? Because they failed to follow the rules for working safely at height, and because they attempted to cover up their negligence after disaster struck.

Back in 2014, two men - Benjamin Edge and Peter Heap - were working on the roof of a shed in wet and windy conditions. There were no height safety measures in place to prevent Edge and Heap from falling and injuring themselves; they weren't wearing safety harnesses, and no other safeguards had been provided for their protection. During the job, Benjamin Edge fell from the roof and sustained severe head injuries. He was pronounced dead at Salford Royal Hospital that night.

If this were the end of the story, Mr Edge's employer - SR and RJ Brown Ltd - would still have been in very hot water indeed. Companies who commit corporate manslaughter by failing to identify and address on-the-job hazards are routinely punished with large fines and even jail time in some cases. In this particular case, however, the firm's wrongdoing did not end with Mr Edge's death.

After the accident, Mr Heap was ordered to bring a set of safety harnesses to the work site to make it look as though proper safety precautions had been taken. Furthermore, James Brown - one of the directors of SR and RJ Brown Ltd - created fake risk assessment forms and handed these to the authorities investigating the incident. All of this was done to create the impression that the firm had followed the rules and that they were not at fault for Mr Edge's death.

Eventually, the cover-up was revealed and the two company directors were sentenced to 20 months in jail, plus a fine of £300,000. Mark Aspin, who contracted the job to SR and RJ Brown Ltd, has been jailed for 12 months.

Why risk breaching safety regulations?

When preparing to carry out a routine task, it can sometimes be tempting to ignore health and safety law and just get it done as quickly as possible. However, as the story above demonstrates, any time you save by skipping the safety precautions will pale in comparison to the possible consequences. Not only can you face hefty fines and jail sentences for putting your employees in danger, you also risk ending lives, wrecking families, and causing damage that can never be undone.

Stay safe at work - if you're an employer, it is your legal responsibility to carry out a risk assessment and put the necessary safeguards in place to protect your workers!

07Dec2016

Do 'Safe' Construction Sites Exist? A Reflection on the Risks of Heavy Lifting

mike health & safety

Last week, a headline published in the Northen Echo captured our attention, as it was announced that a construction firm had been ordered to pay £45,000, as a result of an on-site injury. Initially, this struck us as the same neglectful safety story that we've grown used to reading about, whereby a firm or supervisor is found to have been using unsafe working practices, or unsuitable equipment, and is punished accordingly. This story, however, was distinctly different from previous cases that we have examined, as it lacked the obvious signs of neglect often present in cases such as these. As a result, this got us thinking about the way in which we discuss health and safety in construction, and how, at times, we may be guilty of forgetting the grey areas that surround workplace safety measures.

In the case mentioned, project manager Paul Powton was injured whilst working on a spa expansion for Walter Thompson Ltd, a family-run firm of contractors. Whilst laying two concrete slabs, Mr Powton was injured as the crow bar he was using to lever the slabs into place flew up and hit him in the face, after the top slab fell from the chain block being used to lift it. On inspection, it was found that this incident occurred due to poor planning, time pressure, and a lack of proper risk assessment procedures, with blame falling primarily on the firm, but also on Mr Powton himself.

Just two week prior to the incident, the site had passed its monthly health and safety audit, and during proceedings the company was praised for their 'exemplary' health and safety record. In addition, this was also the company's first prosecution in almost a 100 years of working in the industry. This illustrates the true scale of health and safety risks in the construction industry, by showing that heavy lifting incidents can easily occur, even in the most safety-conscious workplaces. Health and safety cannot be maintained on a monthly or even weekly basis, but must be properly assessed and executed as part of daily working practices.

In order to avoid these incidents, companies and employees should:

Plan ahead with plenty of time, to properly asses each element of the job at hand.
Use the correct lifting and handling equipment, which has been safety checked and approved.
Double check the equipment, and run through safety measures before going ahead with the work.
Clearly communicate health and safety procedures throughout the work force, for a unified approach to safety.
If incidents do occur, the situation should be properly scrutinised in order to ensure that a repeat in never allowed to occur.

For more health and safety news and advice, click here!

31Aug2016

Company Fined £30,000 for Unsafe Lifting Practices

mike health & safety

Lifting large objects can be dangerous business, and it's critically important to carry out the right safety measures in order to minimise the risk of an accident. Failure to adhere to the lifting safety regulations can lead to serious injuries (or worse), and the responsible parties may face prosecution, hefty fines, and even imprisonment.

To see just what can happen when lifting safety guidelines are ignored, you need look no further than the example of Knowsley Engineering Services Ltd, a Merseyside firm that was hit with a £30,000 fine this week after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

What happened?

On the 30th of June, 2014, two workers were moving a structure using a forklift truck. Their goal was to lift the structure from its trestles and manoeuvre it away, but as the structure was being raised up, it twisted around and swung into the cabin of the forklift truck, striking its driver.

That forklift driver, a 46-year-old man from West Lancashire, came away from this incident with serious flesh wounds and a broken arm. This week, his employer (Knowsley Engineering Services Ltd) plead guilty to workplace safety violations at Liverpool Crown Court, resulting in a £30,000 fine (plus costs of £7,670).

How could this have been prevented?

Speaking after the court hearing, a representative from the Health & Safety Executive issued the following statement:

"Had the company taken basic steps, such as providing suitable training so that those undertaking the lift were in a more informed position to assess and then adequately manage the risks, this incident would have been avoided."

With that in mind, here's a breakdown of how this unfortunate incident and the subsequent court hearing could have been prevented:

Employee training. Workers who are required to undertake tasks such as this one should be fully trained to identify risks and take any necessary safety precautions in order to ensure the safe completion of the job at hand.
Risk assessment. Trained workers should know how to carry out a full risk assessment ahead of commencing a lifting/handling job. In an ideal version of this scenario, someone would have completed a risk assessment and spotted the possibility that the structure might twist towards the forklift.
Use of the correct equipment and safety measures. Preventing accidents means taking the right precautions and select the right tools/equipment for the job. In this case, it seems likely that a forklift was entirely the wrong solution for the task at hand, and a different piece of lifting equipment should have been utilised instead.

Source: SHP Online

04Aug2016

More Height Safety Disasters!

mike health & safety

As we've noticed so many terrible examples of poor, or even non-existent height safety during the past few weeks, we decided it was about time that we created a post to highlight our concerns, and show just how common these idiotic actions can be! Just try to look at these photographs without feeling a little bit ill...

(Pinterest)

Lesson #1: The material lift equivalent of giving your mate a boost is never a good idea...

(Pinterest)

In fact, getting your work mates to hold you up is probably one of the worst ideas when it comes to height safety, which is why lesson #2 is to avoid a dizzying situation like the one pictured above!

(Stupid Humans)

Lesson #3: Your workplace probably isn't the best place to practise your tightrope skills. Stick on a harness, and learn how use a scissor lift properly!

(Pinterest)

Lesson #4: If you really want to be air lifted, just keep working like this! The emergency services will soon have you sorted...

(Pinterest)

Lesson #5: For goodness' sake, use the right ladder! It will save you the hassle of improvising this contraption, as well as a few dozen broken bones...

We hope that our latest disaster round-up inspired you to avoid any improvised shortcuts and crazy solutions in the workplace! If you'll excuse the pun, working at height is dangerous on all levels, which is why you should always have the proper safety measures in place, and ensure that you're making full use of the correct height safety equipment!

26Jul2016

Event Rigging Equipment from SafetyLiftinGear

mike health & safety, products

Here at SafetyLiftinGear.com we have expansive range of Event Rigging Equipment for live performances and staged events. We have a great record when it comes to event rigging. We have supplied equipment to a number of big names, including the BBC and Pinewood Studios, and we've even been used by touring rock bands including the legendary Foo Fighters.

Our rigging department includes hoists, harnesses, clamps and many more, and the majority of our range is black in colour, so they're less visible on stage. All of our equipment is fully certified and tested, so you can rest assured that they will keep the live event running safe and efficient.

Here are some of the products in our Event Rigging Range:

Beam Clamps

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These Beam Clamps have been designed for live events and are capable of supporting extremely heavy loads but the maximum weight capacity varies between products so please ensure the beam clamp you've selected is fir for purpose before purchasing. All of our beam clamp range is painted black to ensure that they don't attract the attention of the audience at the live event.

Chain Hoists

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Our Chain Hoists can be used to lift weights of up to 1 tonne but maximum weight capacity differs between products, so please check before purchasing. Our chain hosts are lightweight and compact and coloured black to blend into the background.

Load Arrestors

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It's important when lifting a heavy load that you ensure the load will not be allowed to fall to the ground. Our Load Arrestors halt the descent of overhead loads if the primary support system fails. All of our Arrestors come in a range of maximum lengths and weight load limits, so it's important you check you've chosen the right one that meets your requirements.

Safety Harnesses

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If you're providing a stage rigging service, you may find yourself working at height. To prevent any injuries resulting in accidents or falls you must ensure that the correct safety equipment is worn. We stock a fantastic range of harnesses, and we're confident that no matter what you're requirements are, we are confident you will find the harness to ensure you conduct your work safely.

To see our full range of Event Rigging Equipment, Click Here.

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