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Ainscough Crane Hire, the UK’s leading lifting solutions company, has reaffirmed its commitment to Make the Safe Choice through the introduction of ‘stand down’ events in order to further raise awareness amongst its workforce of the key ways site safety is secured.
Safety stand downs are onsite events that see employees take time off from their usual work in order to discuss common issues of safety, potential recurring hazards and the overall company safety culture.
The first stand down was held at Ainscough’s Leyland depot, with the second taking place in Ossett, with further sessions planned for Operators and drivers.
The main purpose of these initial two sessions was to review all safety learnings from the past 18 months within Ainscough’s Heavy Cranes and transport division. Both sessions provided a valuable opportunity for team members who work in different parts of the country to take part in a forum for discussion in which they were invited to ask questions, discuss challenges and share insights into how best to maintain superior safety standards while delivering often complex lifting operations.
Ainscough has introduced stand downs to reinforce its guiding principle of Make the Safe Choice and to draw increased attention to:
• Ainscough’s Life-Saving Rules: nine directions specially design by Ainscough for its staff to follow in order to work towards maximum safety on site
• The importance of toolbox talks, focussing on a particularly important health and safety aspect of the job
• Common hazards on construction and infrastructure sites, and what lessons can be learned from safety incidents throughout the industry
• Best practice in maintenance regimes, fall protection and PPE
The stand downs also enabled team members to be updated on forthcoming projects.
Additionally, the events provided an opportunity to celebrate those employees whose approach to safety already goes above and beyond. In Ossett, Andy Clark, Planning and Technical Support Manager, was honoured with a Values Champions award for his commitment to ensuring the highest standards of safety on every project he works on.
Andrew Spink, Operations Director Heavy Cranes said: “I would like to thank each member of our team who took part in the stand downs in Leyland and Ossett. The insights shared at these two events demonstrated that every member of our team is fully committed to continually improving our safety offering, always making the safe choice and working to our life-saving rules in order to support the onsite wellbeing of each other, fellow workers and members of the public.
“It was particularly rewarding to see our team’s commitment to our life-saving rules. These are simple but effective rules which one day might just make the difference between someone getting home from work or not. The first two stand downs were both hugely productive, and we look forward to hosting more in the months ahead.”
