The inaugural Health & Safety Conference for the Telecoms Sector took place on 3 April at the Heart of England Conference centre in Coventry. The event brought together 200 of the Sectors OSH professionals and telecoms leaders.
SHP was invited to attend the event, so its Editorial Board Chairman Karl Simons OBE went along for the day. Karl said: “It is inspirational to see the Telecoms sector come together to share best practice and discuss the challenges and opportunities the sector is facing.
“I strongly commend all the SHiFT Group representatives on their journey since it’s formation in 2021, the work undertaken since then and what was an excellent event that celebrates the work of so many in the sector and ultimately will benefit the sectors OSH community moving forward.”
The fibre industry is undergoing a ground-breaking transformation with the objective of delivering gigabit-capable full fibre networks to homes and businesses throughout the UK. The group was established to represent the organisations responsible for delivering and managing these networks.
The primary goals of the Group include sharing of knowledge, providing support, fostering creativity, and promoting best practices, standards, and requirements to enhance compliance.
The conference agenda was shaped around topical issues faced by the sector today, including Diversity and Inclusion, competency schemes and collaboration. Refreshingly it also held an innovation round which enabled start-up organisations the platform of presenting their solutions to the audience.
Alan Trueman presenting at the event.
The event also saw a representative from the Governments Geospatial Commission speak about its flagship National Underground Asset Register aimed at aiding safe digging practices.
Finally the event saw a series of Awards issued by the organisers for areas of excellence in Fibre Health & Safety. This included a Rising Star award, Most Influential, a Legacy award, Contractor Safety Culture award, and Best Innovator award.
Alan Trueman, the Chair or the SHiFT Group and former winner of SHP’s Most Influential in Health and Safety told us: “There are great societal safety benefits associated with the installation of giga-bit capable fibre services but there are significant risks that need to be managed throughout the installation phase in order to ensure a net positive benefit.
“The Safety & Health in Fibre Telecoms (SHiFT) Group including CityFibre and other major fibre operators, has come together to promote collaboration around health and safety to further improve standards. The inaugural SHiFT Conference & Expo is the culmination of 12 months hard work as we strive to grow our fibre community oriented around safety.”
A superb event to celebrate this rapidly growing industry sector!