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Lucideon launches new balustrade testing service

Lucideon, the international materials technology company, has launched a new balustrade testing service. The testing covers free standing glass, post, rail, spindle and infill balustrades to BS 6180: 2011 ‘Barriers in and about buildings’ and Eurocode 1.

The new service will allow designers, manufacturers, distributors, importers and suppliers of new balustrades, and Health and Safety and Facilities Managers of existing in-situ balustrades, to obtain performance testing to ensure that the temporary or permanent barriers (panels and structural components) protect people from hazards or restrict access.

Balustrades can be tested in Lucideon’s large-scale construction laboratory in Stoke-on-Trent or on-site, if the system is already in place. It is crucial that balustrades are safe and fit for purpose before installation and during service.

Steve Newman, Product Manager, Lucideon said “Balustrades can look great in any setting, but without complying with regulations and meeting specifications, they can pose a serious risk. Loading tests ensure the safety and performance of balustrades and their components.”

In addition to balustrades, Lucideon also offers testing for staircases, balconies, handrails, and Glass-reinforced Plastic (GRP) products. The GRP products include canopies, chimneys and dormer windows.

To find out more about Lucideon’s balustrade testing services, visit www.lucideon.com/balustrades.

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Kee Safety ensures optimal safety with KeeGuard® ladder kit

To provide optimal safety to those working at height, Kee Safety, a global supplier of fall protection equipment, has launched KeeGuard® Ladder Kit, a permanently fixed guardrail system that is used in conjunction with safety ladders and self-closing gates.

KeeGuard® Ladder Kit has been designed to provide a working at height safety solution that complies with EN 14122-4. This standard recommends that ‘to prevent falling through the access opening at arrival areas, the opening shall be provided with a gate.’ It also states that at drop edges of arrival areas, ‘a guardrail should be provided at least 1.5m either side of the ladder.’

To ensure it complies with the standard, KeeGuard® Ladder Kit is a ‘retro-fit’ guardrail solution that fits to existing fixed ladder or cat ladders, providing 1.5m guardrailing on both sides of the ladder. Quick and easy to install, it simply clamps on to the existing fixed ladder, forming a continual link from the guardrail to the stringer. The kit’s unique fitting can clamp around a flat or tubular stringer up to 75mm in width/diameter and does not need to be mechanically fixed to the roofing membrane or building’s structure.

“Awareness of the dangers of working at height has increased in the past few years, with legislations such as the Work at Height Regulations of 2005 coming into play” explains John Ingram, Group Product Manager – Fall Protection at Kee Safety. “Great steps have been made to ensure the safety of workers undertaking work at height, and we believe that the introduction of this new product is another step in the right direction.”

Available in a galvanised steel finish, KeeGuard® Ladder Kit has been independently tested and complies with EN 14122-4.

For more information, please visit www.keesafety.co.uk.

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Coastal Hotel & Spa stops false alarms with Nittan

Nittan’s Evolution EV-DP Dual Wavelength Photoelectric smoke detectors have been installed into The Cliff Hotel & Spa in Cardigan, West Wales by Fire and Security Alarms Ltd. (FAS) Carmarthen.

The Cliff Hotel & Spa is a large family-owned hotel featuring 70 en-suite bedrooms, spa and gym facilities, function suite and a golf course. As part of a hotel wide refurbishment project, the existing fire alarm system has been removed and replaced with a sophisticated Nittan Evolution system featuring 260 Nittan devices, including over 200 EV-DP smoke detectors. The system runs on four loops controlled by an Advanced Electronics control panel.

Nittan Dual Wavelength Photoelectric smoke detectors were selected by installer Fire and Security Alarms Ltd. (FAS) to prevent further issues of false alarms that the hotel had been experiencing previously. The primary cause of these had been steam escaping from the en-suite bathrooms and activating the smoke alarms.

As an NSI Gold, BAFE and NICEIC approved contractor, Fire and Security Alarms Ltd. (FAS) provides both design, installation and maintenance of fire and security systems primarily in West Wales. It has a diverse customer base including nursing and residential homes, factories, shops, schools, social and domestic housing. It has built its business on the of quality of its services, providing effective fire and security solutions to customer’s requirements, including The Cliff Hotel where it identified Evolution EV-DP smoke detectors as an ideal solution to the false alarm issue.

Nittan Evolution EV-DP smoke detectors have been designed to reduce false alarms caused by non-combustion products such as steam, dust and aerosols. Unlike other industry standard (single optical sensor) smoke detectors on the market that claim to distinguish between smoke and non-combustion products, the EV-DP effectively measures the actual particle size in the chamber via its combined IR and blue LED technology. As steam and dust are much larger particles than smoke, the detector won’t false alarm.

Nittan EV-DP alarms are not just highly resistant to false alarms, but come with a number of key features and benefits, including their use of a sophisticated and highly flexible Sine Wave FSK protocol for data transfer to and from the panel. This protocol also allows for substantial amounts of information to be transmitted back to the panel at very high speeds. Furthermore, they come with a 360 degree OMNIVIEW LED indicator, permitting clear and visible indication of the sensor’s operation from any angle. Increased EMC immunity is also achieved by the inclusion of a “Bandpass Discriminator Circuit” which is built into every sensor head and loop device.

The Nittan Group has been at the forefront of the international fire protection industry since 1954 and has sales, R&D and manufacturing bases in four countries, including the UK. The company continuously innovates and strives for exceptional quality products that meet the highest of standards.

For sales information, please contact Nittan on 01483 769 555 or by email at sales@nittan.co.uk or visit the website www.nittan.co.uk.

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Winter Wrapped Up!

To help you prepare for the colder months we’ve got winter wrapped up with our comprehensive range of winter safety products. Turbocast 800™ towable grit spreader can be used as a broadcast or drop spreader. Turbocast 800 will hold approximately 10 x 25kg bags of rock salt and gives controlled, accurate coverage up to 8 metres width at speeds from 5-20mph. Turbocast 300™ manual grit spreader spreads to a width of between 3 and 7 metres with minimum effort and can be easily pushed along, even when fully laden. Nestor 400 grit bin has a double skinned lid for supreme strength and durability. The weight of the lid is sufficient to minimise the risk of it opening in strong winds and therefore protects the contents from adverse weather conditions.

Glasdon UK Limited
Telephone: 01253 600410
E-mail: sales@glasdon-uk.co.uk
Website: www.gritbins.co.uk

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Sentence imposed following death of six year old crushed by unsafe gate

A powered gate company has been fined £50,000 for corporate manslaughter following the horrific death of a child who was crushed to death outside her Moss Side, Manchester home in 2010, by an unsafe automatic gate. The sentence was passed at Manchester Crown Court on Monday 7th December.

Cheshire Gates and Automation Ltd had admitted corporate manslaughter over the death of six-year-old Semelia Campbell at an earlier court hearing and heard she had become caught between the heavy sliding gate and a wall outside her home. The moving gate had failed to detect her presence and she became trapped. She was crushed to death despite frantic attempts by her family to free her, the court heard.

In a statement released immediately following the court hearing, the Door & Hardware Federation, which represents the powered gate industry, explained that, tragically, this is not an isolated case.

Neil Sampson, chairman of the DHF Powered Gate Group said: “In the past ten years, there have been seven deaths in the UK and Ireland, at least nine serious injuries and countless near misses caused by dangerous powered gates. Shockingly, it is estimated that 70% of the 500,000 automated gates in service in the UK are unsafe to use.

“In this heart-breaking case, the court was told that when the gate had been originally installed it had been left in a completely unsafe and lethal state. Semelia’s death is a bleak reminder of the dangerous consequences if a powered gate is incorrectly specified, installed or inadequately maintained. The company did not even know how to set the gate up to a safe standard!

“As an industry we are determined to ensure that tragedies like this can NEVER happen again and in the five years since this appalling incident, we have made giant strides forward in raising awareness amongst all those responsible for powered gates regarding safety legislation and providing comprehensive advice and guidance. In the last two years alone, the DHF has trained more than 600 individuals on its two-day comprehensive Safety Assured training course. Owners and managers of any automated entrance systems need to be aware that the safety of their site is their responsibility.”

To gain comprehensive advice on powered gate safety, or to obtain a full list of DHF Safety Assured member companies visit www.dhfonline.org.uk.

In addition, the DHF is presently running a petition to raise awareness of the responsibilities of owners of powered gates visit https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/109917.

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New guidance to stop workers dying each week from occupational disease

The construction industry has launched new guidance to encourage better management of occupational health risks. HSE is urging the industry to put an end to the hundreds of construction workers that die of occupational diseases every month.

Inspectors issued more than 200 health related enforcement notices during the recent Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) construction inspection initiative.

This highlighted the widespread misunderstanding of what ‘occupational health’ means in the construction sector and the employers’ misguided perception that health is more difficult to manage than safety.

The new guide ‘Occupational health risk management in construction’ PDF has been written by the Construction Industry Advisory Committee (ConIAC) Health Risks Working Group and formatted with the assistance of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

It gives practical advice on what ‘health risk’ means for the construction industry, and the role of occupational health service provision in preventing or controlling those risks.

Ian Strudley, Chair of the ConIAC Health Risks Working Group and HSE Principal Specialist Inspector said “The misunderstanding of occupational health within the construction sector means that whilst the industry focus on managing the more familiar safety issues, serious health risks get ignored. We cannot let this continue.”

“When figures show that construction workers are at least 100 times more likely to die from a disease caused or made worse by their work as they are from a fatal accident, the industry must take action.”

Shelley Frost, Executive Director – Policy at IOSH said “There have been huge advances in improving safety in the construction sector over the last 15 years but the industry has yet to generate such advances in improving the picture in occupational health.”

“Every week, 100 people die from construction-related ill health in the UK. Less than half of construction workers also stay employed in the industry until they are 60.”

“This new guide raises awareness of the occupational health issues in construction, demystifies how to best manage them and provides information as to where firms can get help and assistance.”

“Ultimately, if the advice is followed, it could help to lower incidence rates of occupational ill-health and transform the perception of working in construction to that of an attractive and respectful industry with great career choices.”

The guidance is freely available on HSE’s and IOSH’s website:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/iacs/coniac/coniac-oh-guidance.pdf
http://www.iosh.co.uk/techguide

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Is the built environment making us fat?

According to a 2007 Foresight report from the Government Office for science, approximately 65% of adults and 33% of children in the England are now obese. It is estimated that over half of the UK adult population could be classed as obese in as little as 5 years. Needless to say, tackling obesity has become a major social, economic, health and financial issue. Does the environment we live in influence our fitness habits?

Put simply, obesity is usually caused by eating too much and moving too little. If you consume high amounts of energy from your diet, particularly from fat and sugars, but do not burn off the energy through exercise and physical activity, much of the surplus energy is then stored by the body as fat.

The environment in which people live can directly influence the decisions that people make; often subconsciously. For the vast majority of people, exercise is merely a by-product of a busy day. We burn calories as we are shop, during our commute, play with our children or walk the dog on a crisp winter evening. The hectic nature of British society leaves people often too tired or with simply too little time to pursue the goal of a smaller waistline.

Can architects and designers become fitness instructors?

As bizarre as this question may seem, there is substance behind it. Bearing in mind that 80% of people are currently not undertaking what experts deem ‘necessary exercise,’ designers could play a vital role in keeping Britain slim by reassessing the environments that we all exist in.

In order to do this, planners would be required to collaborate with a wide range of other professionals across the building and construction sector, as well as fitness professionals and experts within the health field.

With obesity figures so high, where do we start?

So do we need to completely radicalise our infrastructure in order to breed a generation of Usain Bolt’s – with cities interlinked with rubberized running tracks? Surprisingly, no we don’t. Massive changes could be made using only small amounts of effort and a little attention to detail.

The idea would be to maximise the potential for casual exercise throughout the course of a normal day. This could be done by implementing very small changes, such as a well-placed sign indicating the direction of the stairs; all-to-often hidden in many public buildings. If a shop is within walking distance, people are more likely to leave the car behind. Offices can be made more fitness-friendly with the addition of a bike park and a few showers.

By incorporating cycle paths and pedestrian areas into urban designs, people would feel more inspired to walk or cycle to work, tackling the increasing obesity crisis, lowing carbon footprints and taking pressure off our roads, which are the busiest and most congested in Europe.

Parks and other green spaces also encourage people to exercise, as well as generally uplifting a person’s wellbeing.

How do we start?

The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) have today launched a resource identifying the potential for planners and public health officers to work together to support people to live lifestyles that will help them to maintain a healthy weight. ‘Planning Healthy Weight Environments’ presents an illustration of how a healthy-weight environment could be planned.

TCPA Chief Executive, Kate Henderson said “as the nation faces an obesity crisis, we can see that planning has an important role to play in helping to create high quality environments that offer opportunities for communities to make healthy choices and live healthier lifestyles. By reuniting public health with planning, and bringing together built environment and health professionals, we can work collaboratively to identify local health needs and tackle the obesity challenge.”

In summary

So could architects and planners halt the nation’s obesity crisis? Not on their own, but they can certainly help. Nobody wants to be obese; in order to reduce the alarming figures above the British public will ultimately need to change their behaviour, not just their surroundings. However, it’s very difficult to implement real change if our environment doesn’t encourage it.

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