Safety passport company celebrates 10 years of success
23 October 2009
A Warwickshire company that has prevented thousands of industrial accidents by inventing safety passports is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month.
Since November 1999 Safety Pass Alliance (SPA) Ltd., of Southam, has issued more than 130,000 safety passports to people working in a wide range of industry sectors throughout the UK.
Ray Gibbs, one of the pioneers of safety passports and managing director of SPA, said the scheme was originally created for the petrol refining industry where the highest safety standards were needed by contractors refurbishing refinery plants every three years.
"The success of that scheme led to the creation of safety passports for other sectors," said Ray. "There are now schemes for several sectors including food and drinks, quarries, construction, railways, pharmaceutical, and ports and shipping."
The passport schemes involve two days training. The first core day is the same for all industry sectors. The second day is specific to health and safety issues in the industry sector, and has been designed and developed with a group of the major companies operating in the sector.
The passport schemes are primarily for employees of contractor companies who visit the sites of major companies. Successful candidates
are able to prove their awareness of basic principles of health and safety in a specific industry sector workplace by showing their safety passport.
The safety passport is a robust and secure card - similar to a UK driving licence - that displays a tamper-proof photograph of the successful trainee. The photocard features a special ultra-secure ‘holocote’ finish to prevent fraud.
"The passport scheme benefits the bottom line of both the client and contractor as it reduces the time needed to be spent on site inductions," said Gibbs, a Fellow of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health who has worked in the health and safety industry for over 40 years.
Contact Details and Archive...