We did it! Brilliant Ideas won the Product Innovation Award with our Safety Net Recovery System. The BSIF Safety and Health Excellence Awards were held on 28 April 2021. We were up against some good competition and big brands names – so it’s fair to say we’re chuffed to bits. Our Chris Massey invents all of our construction projects. Here’s why he invented our safety net recovery system – and why it’s an industry winner.
Why we invented it
We experienced a tragic and distressing situation on site. While we were installing precast hollowcore slabs on a third floor, an employee had a cardiac arrest and fell backwards onto scaffolding. His work colleagues performed CPR straight-away and kept him alive until the paramedics arrived – but he never recovered and died two weeks later. Losing a work colleague at just 50-years old, was extremely harrowing and upsetting.
Investigation and current practice
We carried out an in‐house investigation which highlighted a defect in the risk and rescue procedures for the whole industry. So in this case, what would happen if the operative fell forwards into the safety netting and backwards onto the scaffolding? CPR and or defibrillation couldn’t be performed until the casualty was rescued.
With no rescue plan in place, it would be too late to give CPR and or defibrillation. At present, the best site emergency net recovery plan isn’t quick or safe. It involves the use of a plank or board supported by a couple of people to hold up the casualty, who is suspended between 2 and 3 metres in the air, whilst a third person attempts to climb up and cut the net.
Paramedics are not trained to retrieve a casualty from a net. The fire brigade has said that trying to recover someone from a net on the third floor of a construction site, is not a generic situation, so a risk assessment would have to be completed before the rescue is performed. After a serious accident, injury or illness – every minute lost, reduces the chance of survival by 10% per minute. A slow recovery from a safety net could result in death.
You can watch the Net Recovery System in action here.
And let’s not forget our SLAPP Clamp – a lightweight pallet lifting device. During the same Awards, this was Commended in the Safety Solution category. You can read more about it here: https://brilliantideasltd.co.uk/slapp-clamp/
