Overview

A deep commitment to staff and customer safety underpins all of Ainscough Crane Hire Limited’s projects, leading the company to establish its own industry-recognised ‘Make the Safe Choice’ ethos. This comprehensive approach to a safe system of work stems from the team’s extensive experience and knowledge base. The company focuses on understanding and identifying potential dangers and taking preventative action and responding appropriately to prevent physical and mental harm.

Travelling cranes and using them for lifting operations is inherently complex and can be dangerous if it's not carried out in line with official safety guidance. Possible risks include workers or goods falling from height, road accidents, falls on site or musculoskeletal issues because of heavy and repetitive manual tasks.

“We take our duty of care as an employer very seriously and pride ourselves on always going above and beyond the legal stipulations for safety in the workplace.”

– Darren Thompson, HR Director

The less obvious long-term health effects of crane operation are becoming more recognised. The sedentary nature of the job can exacerbate or contribute to obesity, diabetes, and back pain for some individuals. These adverse conditions could also pose a safety risk as they can impact an individual’s ability to perform their job correctly due to impairment, poor reaction times or a reduction in physical capacity.

Ainscough works with Abbott to lead from the front and identify and prevent issues before they happen. Darren Thompson is HR Director at Ainscough Crane Hire. He says, “we take our duty of care as an employer very seriously and pride ourselves on always going above and beyond the legal stipulations for safety in the workplace. Abbott listens to what we want as an organisation and provides us with a custom-built occupational health solution, designed around our values and requirements as an organisation. An off-the-shelf package simply wouldn’t enable us to do this.”

Summary

Ainscough has been partnering with Abbott for many years to provide its employees with comprehensive occupational health services and enhance their overall wellbeing and business productivity.

Abbott continually assesses the company’s occupational health provision and works with the Ainscough team to maintain compliance with relevant UK health and industry legislation.

“Abbott listens to what we want as an organisation and provides us with a custom-built occupational health solution.”

– Darren Thompson, HR Director

This end-to-end service includes pre-placement and periodic medical assessments for staff members working in safety-critical positions, to identify any pre-existing medical conditions jeopardizing safety or problems that may have arisen due to job activities. These checks differ slightly according to each specific role and include tests for hearing and vision, drugs and alcohol, hand and arm vibration damage, balance, mobility and coordination.