It’s show time

The successful Health & Safety series of regional events,
organised by Western Business Exhibitions, is coming to
Bolton.Taking place at The Reebok Stadium, on 5-6
October 2011, Health & Safety North offers visitors a
valuable experience in terms of knowledge, the
opportunity to meet the industry’s most respected
organisations and to network with other professionals.

With high-quality seminar content, the biggest names in
the health & safety sector exhibiting and the addition of
the new ‘Cleaning & Hygiene Zone’Health & Safety
North is an event not to be missed.Here, HSM looks at
the latest news

Each year the event organiser’s
work in partnership with the UK’s
top safety product and service
providers, as well as leading safety
industry organisations to provide an
exhibition and a conference programme
that are relevant to today’s workplace.

The British Safety Council is the Official
Educational Partner for the conference
and the event is endorsed by the IIRSM
and Safety Groups UK.

One of the overall messages of the event is
that safety should not be thought of as
restrictive, but considered as a positive
approach to good business management.

One seminar that captures this is the
seminar entitled ‘Safety is a “Can Do”
Business’ aimed at anyone with
responsibility for health & safety in their
business.

Delivered by Ken Smith, divisional
director consultancy services from Arc
Associates, the seminar will challenge the
misconceptions and discuss the benefits
of doing safety right to avoid any risks.

Ken Smith says, “Safety should not be
restrictive but be concerned with a
positive approach to good business
management; it isn’t about can’t do but
can do!”
In addition, discussing the right steps
to a sensible approach to health and safety
will be Richard Evens, commercial
training director of St John Ambulance
presenting ‘Health and Safety Gone Sane’.

Back in 2010, Lord Young pointed out
that unqualified consultants had given
health & safety a bad name and resulted
in ‘health & safety gone mad’ stories.

Since then, the government has been
announcing changes to reduce some of
the bureaucracy often associated with
health and safety planning. Richard Evens
says that by having a clear and qualified
understanding of the possible safety risks
in an organisation and knowing how to
minimise them is just one step, but
having trained personnel in place when
accidents do happen is also essential.

For those required to deliver some
aspects of health & safety training,
communications need to be finely tuned
and developed to meet the expectations of
wide ranging audiences at different levels
and abilities. Addressing this issue at the
event will be the presentation from Lisa
Fowlie, health and safety advisor,
University of Wales, Bangor, entitled
‘Communicating Health and Safety Issues
in Training: From (Bored) Board Level to
Basics’.

Also looking at the impact of the recent
and planned Government reforms of the
health and safety regulatory framework
will be the presentation entitled ‘The
Changing Health and Safety Landscape’.

Presented by Neal Stone, director of
policy and research for the British Safety
Council, the seminar will explore the
significant changes taking place in the
sourcing of expert advice and guidance
and also the likely impact of reduced
resources for regulation and enforcement.

Corporate Manslaughter Act
update
On day two of the event the seminar
delivered by Kevin Bridges, Partner
Associate, Pinsent Masons LLP, entitled
‘What Lessons have been learnt from the
First Corporate Manslaughter
Prosecution?’ will focus in the wake of the
first conviction and fine imposed under
the Corporate Manslaughter and
Corporate Homicide Act. The lesson to be
learnt by employers is that it has never
been more important to ensure that safety
management systems are robust and
senior managers understand their own
health and safety obligations.

Kevin Bridges represented Cotswold
Geotech and its managing director in this
first prosecution and will outline the
background to the case; the respective
arguments advanced by the prosecution
and the defence and what lessons can be
learnt. They will go on to explain the
significance, therefore, of having a clearly
defined Incident Response Protocol,
incorporating Legal Privilege over
accident investigation reports and other
internally produced documents.

A fascinating part of the programme is
a case study type presentation from
Naveed Qamar, group safety director of
FirstGroup. He will outline the challenges
of managing a workforce of 130,000
people and 2.5 billion passengers, where
the challenge is to promote a proactive
mindset as opposed to waiting for events
to dictate. ‘FirstGroup’s Approach to
Managing Health and Safety’ will give an
insight into how to provide safety
leadership internally and externally and
the results that can be achieved.

Something different for the conference
programme this year is the drama based
presentation called ‘Safety Leadership and
Culture’ delivered by Shaun Curry and
Harry Gallagher of Macnaughton
McGregor. The session promises to be
interactive, practical and effective and the
organisers of the presentation say their
style of delivery effects a long-term change
in attitude – not just a short term change
in behaviour – and helps to build lasting
positive cultural change.

Cleaning & Hygiene Zone launch
A new element which brings something
different to the event is the addition of the
Cleaning & Hygiene Zone, sponsored by
the Cleaning & Hygiene Suppliers
Association (CHSA), a trade association
of suppliers to the cleaning industry
representing over 200 manufacturers and
distributors across the UK. The Zone will
feature exhibits from a number of
providers of products and services and it
also presents the opportunity for health
and safety distributors who are
considering expanding into cleaning
supplies to find out further information,
including details on membership with the
CHSA. The main objective of the CHSA is
to raise the long-term performance of
member companies by assisting them in
offering excellence of customer service to
end-users.

Exhibiting within the Cleaning &
Hygiene Zone are; Chemaide, which
develops a range of specialist
maintenance, cleaning and hygiene
products for industrial, commercial and
institutional applications; Sebo,
manufacturers of vacuum cleaners
specifically designed for cleaning
professionals, and Omnipole, innovative
maintenance and window cleaning
equipment manufacturers.

Speaking about the relationship
between the cleaning and hygiene and
health and safety sectors, Secretary for the
CHSA, Graham Fletcher said:
“There is a great synergy between
cleaning, hygiene, health and safety, for
example the threat of occupational skin
care is overcome by the use of skin care
programmes developed and sold by the
cleaning and hygiene industry. Slips, trips
and falls are controlled through the use of
appropriate floor care preparations
developed and sold by the cleaning and
hygiene industry. And so it goes on. Every
single business in the UK uses products or
services of the type provided by CHSA
members; therefore, we believe the new
Cleaning & Hygiene Zone is relevant to
anyone attending Health & Safety North”.

Demonstration Zone provides
practical advice
As well as the educational programmes an
HSM Demonstration Zone is also
planned for the North event. Sponsored
by machinery safety specialists Laidler
Associates, part of the machinery division
of TÃœV SÃœD Product Service Ltd, the
zone will host more than a dozen
demonstrations and will offer free
theoretical and practical information
about the latest legislation and
technology.

Opening speaker at the HSM
Demonstration Zone will be Simon
Deighton from the Laidler group. His
presentation will concentrate on
‘PUWER’ and he will also focus on the
additional requirements needed when
using electro-sensitive protective
equipment (light curtains).

Also speaking at the zone will be
Jonathan Wilson, health & safety sector
manager, NQA, with the seminar entitled
‘Making life easier for the Health & Safety
Managers’. Jonathan Wilson explains the
framework behind the Health & Safety
Standard OHSAS 18001 and
demonstrates how this standard can help
health & safety managers to show ‘best
practice’ at all times. His workshop
includes guidance on how to ensure
compliance with legislation that applies to
your activities and identified hazards.

Attendees at this seminar will gain an
understanding of how to develop a sound
business case for the adoption of OHSAS
18001.

Part of the conference programme will
also be more practical seminars hosted by
the event partners such as 3M
Occupational Health & Environmental
Safety. Its seminar entitled ‘Occupational
Asthmagens’ delivered by Alan McArthur,
technical affairs engineer, puts
Occupational asthmagens in the spotlight.

Occupational asthmagens exist in a broad
range of industries and include substances
such as flour and wood dust. 3M will
highlight common asthmagens, their
health effects and give guidance on
control measures.

Also, event partner Ansell Occupational
Healthcare, will be delivering a seminar
entitled ‘Cut Protection and Cut Index;
The Reality Behind The Scores’. The
presentation will be an insight into hand
protection experiences and the deviation
between laboratory test and shop floor
reality. The seminar will look in-depth at
the level of protection to better address
glove performance requirements and
optimise glove portfolio selection, as well
as operator’s protection and satisfaction.

Feedback from Health & Safety North
in 2010 event was very positive and Stuart
Holmes, Day Aggregates said: “I like
coming to events such as this to see what
is new, to get updates on seminars and
conferences. I like being kept up to date
with information and this is the perfect
place to do that”
Health & Safety North is free to attend
and also has free parking. It is
recommended that visitors should register
in advance for entry tickets and especially
for seminar places as these are extremely
popular. You can register online at:
www.healthandsafetyevents.co.uk or by
calling the event hotline on the number
below.