IMCA Newsroom

Press Release 08/08

SAFE USE OF LADDERS AND AVOIDING DROPPED OBJECTS IN THE IMCA SPOTLIGHT

Promoting safe working is key to the ethos of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) and its members. Two new eye-catching posters, both featuring cartoons, and depicting the "do's" and "don'ts" of safe working are now available from the association.

One poster focuses on 'Working at height: Safe use of ladders', while the other turns the spotlight on 'Avoiding dropped objects', showing the right and wrong ways of ensuring that bad working practices don't hurt unsuspecting work colleagues.

"Our safety promotion material, which includes pocket safety cards, and DVDs as well as two earlier posters 'Manual handling: Watch your back' and 'Preventing slips, trips and falls' has proved extremely popular," explains Hugh Williams, IMCA's chief executive. "Thanks to their splendid cartoons, the posters tell the story with the minimum of words, but the maximum impact. There is an added advantage on vessels with mixed nationality crews that the cartoons speak in every language."

Copies of the posters are available to members and non-members to buy. The full sets of print files are also available for downloading from the members-only website, with space included for incorporating a member company's logo, company name and/or reference. This same facility is available for the 15 popular pocket safety cards.

Notes to Editors (common)

• IMCA is an international association with over 450 members in more than 50 countries, representing offshore, marine and underwater engineering companies. IMCA has four technical divisions, covering marine/specialist vessel operations, offshore diving, hydrographic survey and remote systems and ROVs, plus geographic sections for the Americas Deepwater, Asia-Pacific, Europe & Africa and Middle East & India regions, as well as a core focus on safety, the environment, competence and training. IMCA seeks to promote its members' common interests, to resolve industry-wide issues and to provide an authoritative voice for its members.
• IMCA publishes some 200 guidance notes and technical reports. These have been developed over the years and are widely distributed. They are a definition of what IMCA stands for, including widely recognised diving and ROV codes of practice, DP documentation, marine good practice guidance, the Common Marine Inspection Document, safety recommendation, outline training syllabi and the IMCA competence scheme guidance. In addition to the range of printed guidance documents, IMCA also produces safety promotional materials, circulates information notes and safety flashes.
• Judith Patten is here to help you if you want any additional information on IMCA; would like to discuss a feature article; want to organise interviews with key members of the IMCA team, etc.