So many people booked for the SHAD (Safety & Health Awareness Day) held at APS Masonry's workshops in Oxford on 20 March that the day had to be split into morning and afternoon sessions in order to accommodate everyone.

The Stone Federation / Health & Safety Executive event had been designed to accommodate 30 people but more than 70 booked for it and some even simply turned up on the day, which added to the organisers' difficulties, although nobody was turned away. In the end 90 people turned up.

It has been two years since the previous SHAD and in the meantime HSE has started charging companies £124-an-hour Fees for Intervention (FFI) if it feels the need to intervene on health & safety grounds. That seems to have concentrated the minds of masonry companies, who were keen to find out what they should be doing to avoid falling foul of the regulations on hand arm vibration, noise and materials handling.

The main presentations were given by specialist noise and vibration HSE inspector Andrew Thompson, HSL scientist Russell Atkinson (Silica dust exposure) and specialist HSE human factors inspector Ed Milnes (materials handling). 

"It's really good to see that the stone industry wants to take health and safety seriously and wants to come to an event like this," Ian Smart, from the Manufacturing Sector of HSE, told Natural Stone Specialist at the SHAD. "In this current climate it reflects the importance they attach to health & safety."

He pointed out that health & safety is not just an administrative burden. "The important thing is that people are able to go home at the end of a day's work without injuries and without having suffered any harm to their health."

Encouraged by the enthusiasm with which this latest SHAD was welcomed by the stone industry, Ian said he hoped that more such events could be organised in conjunction with the Stone Federation during the year.