Platform.as just had a large group of its employees on fall protection courses.
When you, as Platform.as, project, lease and install mast climbing work platforms for construction and renovation projects throughout Denmark, there is a great focus on safety. The company has just held two more fall prevention courses for a large group of its employees. It was the first time for some of them, as they are new employees. For others, it was a day for repetition and for refreshing what they already had learned.
– At Platform.as we run courses on a regular basis. As a responsible actor in the industry, we have an obligation to ensure that our employees work safely. All new employees receive safety training from their first day of work. At the same time, we organise regular start-up and refresher courses for employees with an external instructor. The start-up course must be refreshed within two years so that all relevant employees have a valid fall prevention certificate, explains Clemen Ditlevsen, HR, Quality and Safety Manager at Platform.as.
The company’s management system is DRA-certified in quality, sustainability and work environment. In addition, its quality management system meets the additional requirements of the Danish Working Environment Authority’s Ordinance No. 629:2008, Enclosure 6 within the service and handling of mast climbing work platforms and hoists. This means that there is a great focus on both certifications and the individual employee.
– We have about 30 assemblers in the company plus about 10 employees from the workshop, who may also have to work at height during a work day, says Clemen Ditlevsen.
– In addition, we have a goal that one day every week, an employee from the administration will drive out together with an assembler. This allows them to experience the challenges they face, which gives them a better understanding of assembling and enables them to help more effectively, continues Clemen Ditlevsen.
The Platform.as assemblers always work with collective safety in the form of a physical guardrail on the platforms. But sometimes that solution is not possible, and therefore they work wearing fall prevention equipment. The maximum distance from the platform to a building facade is 25 cm. If the distance is greater, fall prevention is required if the working height is more than two metres above the ground. So, as a general rule, Platform.as’ assemblers use fall prevention every day.
This is why company fall prevention courses are so essential.
– The aim of the courses is to enable our employees to carry out their work all year round without risk. As responsible managers, we have to equip them for the tasks. They should not be in doubt about when and how to use fall prevention equipment. They must be able to check their equipment themselves so that they know it is working properly. And they must also be able to perform height rescue if the situation should arise. They need to be aware of this and there is no exemption from attending the courses. The courses are compulsory and the conditions are the same for everyone, Clemen Ditlevsen summarises.
One of the participants in the recently held fall prevention course is Thomas Sørensen. He is an assembler at Platform.as and works on assembling, moving and dismantling mast climbing work platforms at customers’ sites.
– It is very reassuring to be in a company that cares as much about safety as Platform.as does. I work with large and heavy machines on a daily basis – and very often at height. That’s why it’s extremely important to be trained to help others if an accident occurs. And also to feel reassured that my colleagues also have the necessary knowledge to help me if I need it, he says.
Platform.as has equipment that can assemble mast climbing work platforms up to 300 metres above ground. So far, the 98 metre high ski slope at the waste energy plant on Amager Bakke is the highest that Platform.as has yet delivered and installed. However, two recently installed mast climbers, at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel in Copenhagen, with their 90 metres in height, come very close.
– As Denmark’s largest lessor of mast climbing work platforms, we want to take responsibility – and create a safer workplace. Therefore, it was an important milestone in the company’s history when we became DRA-certified in quality, environment and work environment some years ago. Safety, service and quality are our core values, and we want our employees to return home from work safely – every day, says Casper Knudsen, CEO of Platform.as.
