SED 2007: Now we're talking

The move to Rockingham has enabled SED to host conferences and seminars. And that's what is happening this year, with a range of free seminars for everyone in the plant and equipment world.

Taking this opportunity to get their message to the construction industry are the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF), The Concrete Society, the Concrete Pipeline Systems Association (CPSA) and Moggs Marketing.

Helping managers keep up with an endless stream of regulations is the aim of a series of daily free seminars by the HSE (11am-11.45am, 12pm-12.45pm, 1pm-1.45pm and 2pm-2.45pm) in the Apollo Suite. The ground is covered in four specific seminars: Safety; Health; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM); and Working Well Together (WWT).

HSE

Delegates to the Safety seminars will learn about falls from vehicles ahead of a major HSE campaign this autumn. Topics covered include risks, safe access and egress, avoiding falling from a load or vehicle itself and a range of on- and off-vehicle solutions.

Those attending the Health seminar will hear about how to improve the management of occupational health in the construction industry. The speakers will describe what problems can arise and how to manage the risk rather than the symptoms. Issues such as noise, hand-arm vibration, asbestos, dermatitis and musculo-skeletal disorders will be explored.

Visitors wanting to find out how to better integrate health and safety into construction projects management, improve risk management, undertake competence assessment and reduce bureaucracy would do well to attend one of the CDM seminars.

WWT is the largest health and safety campaign ever undertaken to support small construction businesses. HSE officials will describe how to join and contribute to the industry-led campaign and gain access to the host of free training events and activities throughout the country.

IPAF

IPAF will focus on safety in its seminars in the Gemini Suite. The presentations will centre on selecting the correct equipment and its Clunk Click campaign, which it describes as "a grass-roots campaign for hire companies fed up with operators not getting some relatively simple advice about wearing full-body harnesses with short lanyards in boom-type platforms". The aim is to prevent unnecessary fatalities caused by operators being catapulted out of baskets when struck by other vehicles or bounced out by unstable ground.

Presenters will include IPAF international training manager Rupert Douglas-Jones and IPAF technical officer Gil Male, former head of HSE Engineering Plant Group in the technology unit. They will look at the correct use of harnesses, explain the industry position and review management responsibility for MEWPs operating on sites. All delegates will receive a copy of Technical Guidance note H1 summarising best practice and a selection of Clunk Click stickers.

Concrete Society

Delegates interested in concrete may want to select the day they attend SED to suit the seminar timetable. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Concrete Society will have an open surgery, while on Thursday the CPSA will present Reducing the Risk.

Speakers at the Concrete Society's technical presentations in the Gemini Suite will include a team of professional engineers. Between them they have significant industry breadth and experience having worked across the sector in a range of capacities including concrete manufacture and supply engineering consultancy, academia and contracting.

Each year they help thousands of callers to the society's advisory helplines and visit hundreds of sites to offer practical guidance and support.

So if you have a concrete-related problem, a session with the concrete doctors should be high on your list of priorities at this year's show.

In the same slot on Thursday, the CPSA's seminar aims to provide those specifying manholes, gullies and pipelines with the information to reduce the risk of pipeline system failures. The speaker will explore areas such as the life-cycle analysis of UK sewer systems, sustainability and developments in pipe manufacture. Other topics covered will be the restrictions on the use of materials for adoptable sewers for each water authority. Plastic pipes, and whether they are easier to lay as they can be handled manually, will also be debated.

Moggs Marketing

If you're frustrated trying to get your company better known, then 90 minutes at one of Moggs Marketing's daily seminars will be a worthwhile investment.

The seminars centre on Moggs' Construction Marketing Centre of Excellence - a new concept that provides access to the services of proven marketing professionals that can help build your brand and expand your business.

Visitors will hear about the Brand Health Check that determines how your company is perceived in the market and there will be experts on hand to advise on advertising, direct marketing, strategic planning, PR and more.

So whether your information need is health and safety, marketing or avoiding pitfalls with concrete, SED's seminar programme has something for you. And better still, they are all free.