PASMA Tower Week begins November 10th

PASMA has announced that this year's Tower Week will take place from the 10th to 14th of November. Tower Week's aim is to promote towers, ensure they’re used safely, and to promote good practice within the industry.

As part of the week-long promotion, PASMA has introduced The Tower Test. It's a 5-minute test to see how safe you are on your mobile access tower. Everyone who takes the test gets a Tower Fact Pack including an answer sheet explaining the correct answers to the test.

To find out more and take the test, visit PASMA's dedicated Tower Seek website.

C&D awarded "preferred trainer" status for Prodem Limited

C&D are pleased to announce that we have been awarded "preferred trainer" status for Prodem Limited of Nottingham to assist with the upskilling of all of their employees and supervisors from 1st October 2014.

The first batch of courses will be PASMA tower scaffold refresher and Option 2 of the C&D Work at Height suite of courses.

The Work at Height suite of courses have proved to be very popular since their inception as they give operatives the chance to increase their WaH knowledge in small steps as their duties change. The courses were introduced in August 2013 and we have now delivered over 5,000 hours of training in WaH.

For more details on WaH courses please see our previous coverage that gives full details of what to expect, and then contact Margaret Wilkinson at margaret@demolishdismantle.co.uk

"No excuse" for unsafe low level platforms with PAS 250

A new Publicly Available Specification (PAS 250) has been posted by the trade body PASMA that aims to remove any excuses to do with unsafe low level platforms. PAS 250 sets out the minimum safety and performance requirements for low level platform use. It is sponsored by PASMA and facilitated by BSI Standards and published under licence from the British Standards Institution (BSI).

According to PASMA:

"Wherever there is high demand for a product and no existing standard in place there is always the risk that some designs may not meet even the most basic of safety criteria, and these inferior products can be marketed and distributed freely, potentially contributing to the already concerning accident statistics for low-level work at height. PAS 250 addresses this issue and sets the standard for podiums and pulpits going forward.

According to PASMA, there is now no excuse for using low-level access equipment that jeopardises safety and can put users at risk. The specification comprehensively covers all low-level work platforms with one working platform and side protection, for use by one person with a maximum working platform height of under 2.5 metres.

Sponsoring PAS 250 is the final step in a three-point plan from PASMA to ensure that podiums have a consistent standard of safety."

If you would like to read the PAS 250 specification it is available to purchase both at the PASMA online store and the BSI online store.