Northern lights

With a free to attend conference authored by The British Safety Council and some of the most respected UK vendors exhibiting, the event taking place on 7 – 8 October 2015 at The Bolton Arena, guarantees free and quality advice to all attendees.

All-inclusive British Safety Council conference sessions

The event hosts a wide array of conference sessions, organised through the British Safety Council that cover the industry ‘hot’ topics. These range from key developments within the health and safety regulatory framework to how measurement of health and safety performance can provide the information an individual needs to know on managing risks in their organisation.

On day one, Louise Taggart, a health and safety training and project delivery professional, will be delivering her presentation entitled ‘Michael’s Story – The Impact of not Managing Risk Effectively’. Addressing the presentation to anyone with a responsibility for health and safety at their workplace, Louise will be telling the story of how her 26 year old brother – an experienced electrician, died tragically 10 years ago on a job site as a result of an electrical incident which, could and should, have been prevented.

During the presentation Louise will talk through the catalogue of errors in health and safety management that accumulated to prove fatal. She also discusses the wider consequences of Michael's death in the hope that lessons can be learnt and other deaths can be prevented. Visitors can catch Louise’s poignant presentation at 11:10am on 7 October.

Additionally, on the afternoon of the first day, Dr Louise Vassie, an Institute of Directors independent consultant and advisor, turns the focus onto the audience, encouraging them to ask some important questions about their own health and safety performance. With her 45 minute presentation entitled ‘Health and Safety Performance – How do you think you’re doing?’ Louise will cover how measurement of health and safety performance can provide the insight into how to do things more effectively within organisations. Highlighting the importance of using, selecting and reporting performance data, the presentation looks at some key issues determining the effectiveness of performance management.

Following a busy first day, the programme on 8 October is not to be missed as the conference hall is transformed into a court room with an interactive session from Pinsent Masons LLP who will be conducting a mock trial entitled: 'A Construction Industry Accident – who’s Fault? You Decide'.

Split into two one hour sessions, 'The Evidence' at 11:15 followed by 'The Verdict' at 13:15, the mock trial will demonstrate the stages of a health and safety prosecution, following a serious incident within the construction industry. The mock trial will highlight health and safety implications from the injured party’s perspective as well as the managing director of the company being questioned. Perhaps, the most interesting part is that the trial’s outcome will be left in the hands of the visitors attending Health and Safety North to decide.

"The sessions will be good fun for everyone involved but will also contain a strong message," said Katherine Brydon of Pinsent Masons LLP, the international law firm hosting the trial. "We hope people will be engaged and that what they will learn will be of use to them in their professional lives. Fortunately, the vast majority of people attending the event will never be involved in a health and safety prosecution, but the mock trial will be a real eye opener and give the individuals attending an insight into how it unfolds, what a trial looks like and the consequences they could face if they don’t abide by the law.”

Practical seminars

As well as the British Safety Council conference programme, the Health and Safety North event will also benefit from practical seminars hosted by event partners such as 3M, Arco and Dupont Personal Protection. Kicking off this programme on day one is Nikki Samme, marketing and portfolio development director from Alcumus. Her presentation entitled ‘A Guide to Business Continuity Planning using the ISO 22301 Framework' goes ahead at 9:10am on 7 October. Nikki will bring to light some worrying statistics; one in five businesses suffer a major disruption of service every year and one in 10 of these businesses will cease trading as a direct result of this. With her presentation, Nikki looks to cover the growing demand for the international business continuity standard ISO22301 and this can be embedded into an organisation’s culture.

Following in the afternoon, those concerned with the new arc flash standards IEC 61482-2, EN 61482-1-1 and EN 61482-1-2 will want to attend, as speaking on ‘How to Assess Electric Arc Hazards and Protect Workers’ will be Elaina Harvey, the UK Thermal Specialist for Nomex and Western Europe electric arc end user specialist for Dupont Personal Protection. As well as highlighting the new standards, Elaina will summarise the '4 P' approach to understanding and managing electrical arc hazards – predict, prevent, protect and publish.

Join the debate

The event will also benefit from a Safety Dialogue Theatre; a round table discussion involving a live panel during which experts discuss the latest issues and open up the floor to questions from the audience. Topics up for discussion will be: 'Managing Respiratory Hazards'. With a focus on construction dusts and asbestos, this session includes information and a discussion on the Breathe Freely campaign recently launched by British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS).

In the 'Managing Noise Hazards' session the panel will discuss noise hazards and the practical aspects of protecting people against them.

The Health & Safety North event is centred on an exhibition that includes the most well recognised trade bodies, manufacturers and distributors, training providers and consultants in the health and safety sector, giving visitors access to new information and experts.

To register online visit www.healthandsafetyevents.co.uk