Could the exhibition industry improve its health and safety guidelines with greater consultation, asks Andrew Manby, director of exhibition services provider, Joe Manby.
Children forced to put on goggles before they can be exposed to the extreme dangers of conkers, traditional pancake day races cancelled and church clock winders banned from climbing the church tower to carry out their duties: no doubt you’ll recognise these from the long list of “elf ‘n’ safety” bogeymen regularly trotted out by the Daily Mail, and others who really should know better.
In the exhibitions industry though, health and safety – keeping ourselves and our colleagues alive and well - is no laughing matter. You might not know it from reading our newspapers, but Britain has seen a laudable 81 per cent fall in workplace deaths and a 72 per cent fall in other reported workplace injuries over the past 35 years, thanks to improved legislation. We benefit from having one of the best safety records in Europe in fact.
Our industry itself has a generally sensible and cautious approach to workplace safety and a good track record to boot. That’s not to say that things couldn’t be improved though.
Let me give you some examples of some of the inconsistences that threaten to undermine our industry’s attitude to safety. Too often they stem from a lack of consultation with organisations like ourselves who work at the coal face and really do have the inside track on how safety in the events workplace can best be achieved – just ask us! They never do though, and instead health and safety policies are introduced from on high, without enough proper thought and consideration about their practical application. All too predictably, they prove too difficult to enforce and as a consequence soon lapse into obscurity. My main concern is that where this happens repeatedly the effect is to trivialise what could otherwise be extremely worthwhile initiatives.
There’s also a worrying vagueness about the guidelines that govern health and safety for the often frenetic “build-up” days, when an exhibition is under construction. Where high-visibility jackets have been decreed, there is often a great deal of confusion over when “build-up” actually begins and ends. Clearly construction is on-going throughout the tenancy, and where you have a one or two-day installation, how do you deal with the exhibitor who arrives at the venue simply to install their graphics and furniture? It would certainly be interesting to understand how local authorities perceive risk, when officials at last week’s local election counts were seen to be decked out in ultra-safe bright yellow jackets!
So while I certainly don’t believe we need more health and safety legislation, we do need a better understanding of the risks we in the events industry face in the workplace; how those are best mitigated and, where possible avoided. Instead, all too often health and safety procedures are born out of an avoidance of responsibility, rather than a true risk assessment. What’s needed is a sensible application of rules that are created in consultation with those, like the team at Joe Manby, who actually work in the exhibitions industry, to ensure we nurture the safe environment we all want.
Any comments? Email exhibitionworld@mashmedia.net
