Leading crewing company, Pinnacle Crew, has become one of the latest organisations to offer the new safety passport course for the live events industry.
Making the announcement at the Event Production Show, Pinnacle’s managing director Heath Freeman said:
“This is an important development in the live events industry. By introducing an industry-wide safety scheme we can raise awareness of our serious approach to health and safety. In addition, the Health and Safety Executive is looking to reduce the incidences of accidents in our sector; and this scheme will be recognised by all the relevant authorities.”
Working with the Safety Pass Alliance (SPA) Ltd – a leading health and safety passport body – Pinnacle will now be offering the one-day course specifically designed for the general workforce in the events industry. General crew, production workers, stage hands, lighting and sound crew, stage and set builders, backline technicians, electricians, safety stewards, drivers, riggers, laser and pyrotechnic technicians, and video and production crew, can all benefit from the increased knowledge of how on-site safety is managed, the common hazards faced and how they can be best avoided.
As well as offering the course throughout the industry, Pinnacle will be delivering it as standard to all its own crew.
Specifically, the course covers six modules comprising organising for safety; workplace safety which cover occupational law, employer and employee responsibilities, risk assessment and a safe place of work; plants and machinery; health covering work equipment, electricity, noise, transport, hazardous substances, manual handling and stress; and procedures and the environment which together cover safe systems of work, emergency procedures, fire, accidents, pollution prevention and environmental responsibilities. The entire course will be delivered by fully qualified British Safety Council trainers.
Successful trainees will be provided with a robust plastic photo card, valid for three years. This Safety Passport scheme, which has been in place in other industries for many years, means that clients can be assured that they are appointing competent contractors and freelancers who are aware of their health and safety duties and responsibilities. In fact, all Passport details are held on a central database that may be interrogated by client companies.
As Heath Freeman said:
“The Safety Passport concept is simple. It helps establish a safety culture by providing a nationally recognised standard of health and safety training and assessment that is cost-effective, easily accessible, tests knowledge and caters for a specific industry sector. It is a very easy way for people who move from one contract or company to another to prove to employers that they have received basic training, and therefore saves time and money in unnecessary induction training.”
Press enquiries; please contact: January 2010
Jonquil Simons, The Simons Partnership
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