There is nothing to indicate that it has become safer to work in the North Sea since the beginning of the 80's, while safety requirements and focus have exploded during the same period. If this focus has not improved safety, what has it done?
The first half of the presentation on the Work at Heights Conference will be a discussion of safety developments in general, and the second half of the presentation will focus on work at height and the enormous diversity of strategies scaffolders and rope access experts use to meet current HSE requirements.
The presenter is Tore Tjelmeland, a university fellow at the Institute for Administration and Organizational Science, University of Bergen. His research focuses on how the petroleum industry regulates safety. He has worked as an industrial rope access expert and scaffolder in the North Sea since 1995.
About the Work at Heights Conference Høydekonferansen aims to focus on Best Practice when working at heights. Serious accidents involving fall or dropping objects are far too common in Norway as well as internationally. Our vision is to address this problem by providing an arena for exchanging ideas, sharing thoughts, and discussing solutions. We are confident that an increase in the collective competence and skills will lead to a decrease in the number of fatal accidents.
The two previous conferences have shed light on the legal framework for this kind of work. HSE-authorities governing both on and offshore industry have been present, describing their strategies and sharing thoughts. We have also, amongst other things, provided interesting status reports to the committee working to establish the new Norwegian Norm for Rope Access and from the offshore industry alliance SFS (“Working together for Safety”) and their work on common guidelines, Best Practice recommendations and training regimens for fall arrest and rescue.
Best Practice considerations are, and will continue to be, the core of the conference. Companies throughout the industrial world’s many branches still face various, differing challenges along the path towards safe and cost-effective solutions to work-at-height issues. We wish to present to you both the inspiring tales of success, and the gripping stories of failure. When told by the people involved, they are both invaluable sources of wisdom.
This year we will once again do our best to enlighten you on these subjects. The following list presents some of the issues we will focus on this year:
Windmills and work at heights.
Should we welcome e-learning as a good means to achieving our goals?
Status of various new norms, guidelines and recommendations.
When everything goes wrong, the anatomy of a fatal accident.
Best Practice issues.
We believe that anyone with the slightest interest in work-at-height issues will benefit from what we have to offer, be it employers, HSE-personnel, supervisors/work leaders or personnel involved in training/education. We look forward to seeing you at Åndalsnes in November.
Date: 10.-11th. November
Location: Grand Hotel Bellevue, Åndalsnes, Norway (www.grandhotel.no)
