HSE Campaign Seeks to Retire 5,000 Old Ladders
"Don't let a dodgy ladder shatter your life - Exchange it!" is the slogan for a campaign Britain's Health and Safety Executive started Sept. 1. The project aims to retire 5,000 unsafe ladders from British workplaces by giving their owners a discount of up to 50 percent for exchanging them for new replacement ladders.
Partner companies and local authorities around the country are participating in the program. The local authorities will be conducting ladder inspections as part of their visits, and enforcement action could result if they discover broken, bent, or unfit-for-service ladders in use. Details are available online at http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/ladderexchange.htm.
HSE recently released the online STEP (Slips Trips eLearning Package) training package to help stakeholders prevent these incidents. It contains a general course and specific courses for food manufacturing, hospitality & catering, education, and health. To get it, visit
http://www.hse.gov.uk/slips/index.htm
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More than 39,000 packages and three large events have been provided to the catering industry in an initiative continuing through March 2009, and the agency said it will offer a series of workshops beginning after Christmas to help prevent slips and falls in nursing homes, with follow-up inspections planned for 2009/10.