TB Davies is supporting the PASMA (Prefabricated Access Suppliers’ & Manufacturers’ Association Ltd ) TowerWeek campaign, which will hold events across the UK from November 10th-14th. TowerWeek ran for the first time in 2013 to increase awareness of scaffold tower safety. Falls from height remain one of the biggest causes of injury in the UK workplace. During this year TB Davies completed the process and became an PASMA approved training centre for scaffold tower training. Training courses are now regularly held at the Cardiff head office as well as at customer locations around the UK.
Highlighting the dangers of working at height is the main focus of the PASMA TowerWeek campaign. The table below highlights the fact that self-employed workers as a percentage of the UK working population remain one of the groups most likely to suffer a fatal fall from height. Nevertheless the statistics underline the importance of using not just the right equipment, but also having the right training to minimise the chance of becoming such a statistic.
| Injury | Falls from height (employees) | Falls from height (self-employed) |
|---|---|---|
| Fatal | 25 | 21 |
| Major | 2,522 | 313 |
| Over seven day | 2,727 | 105 |
| Total | 5,274 | 439 |
[Source: https://www.pasma.co.uk/scaffold-towers/]
In an effort to making working at height safer the industry has worked hard to create the adoption of the EN1004 safety standard that specifies minimum safety requirements. These include ensuring that scaffold towers have purpose designed platforms with trapdoors for safe entry and exit. EN1004 specifies that towers have built in access for safe access together with stabilisers that prevent the tower from tipping over including guardrails to prevent falls through gaps.
TB Davies supply not just courses but a range of industrial grade Contractor Scaffold Towers in both Advanced Guard Rail and 3T (Through The Hatch) scaffold tower systems. These are both EN1004 standard and available on a 7 day delivery across the UK. The courses available through TB Davies include, Towers for Users, Towers for Managers, Combined Low Level Access & Towers for Users course, Work at Height (Essentials) and Low Level Access. Following completion of these PASMA approved courses, each user will get a PhotoID Card valid for 5 years.
PASMA TowerWeek will be holding events throughout the UK. As with all training, care should be taken to confirm that the training center is approved. PASMA have recently launched a new dynamic widget (see below), which confirms in real time if the training center is approved or not. TB Davies is such an approved training center.
TowerWeek is for all companies and self-employed people who either work on or arrange employees to work from in their day to day duties. In 2013, Health & Safety offences totalled over £2m, with an average fine of nearly 10,000 for each offence. As a result managers have an equal duty to understand the dangers of using sub-standard scaffold towers or using towers incorrectly.
Demonstration of how to correctly erect a Scaffold Tower
TB Davies created the Working at Height Training Academy in Lewis Road, Cardiff, to share our experience and expertise with your staff and offer a wide range of Working at Height safety courses from PASMA and The Ladder Association at our approved training centre. For more details visit our PASMA Training Cardiff page.
