Press Archive 2006
A programme by ICI Paints to help educate and inform its customers in the decorating trade in the UK and Ireland about safe working at heights has won the 2005 ICI Chairman's Leadership Award for Sustainability.
7 February 2006
The annual award is part of the scheme that recognises innovative and outstanding projects by ICI sites around the world in the areas of safety, health, environment, product stewardship and community involvement. Falls from heights by workers in the UK and Ireland decorating sector cost an estimated 250,000 lost working days and more than 30m GBP a year in lost earnings. New safety regulations were introduced in 2005 which decorators could have seen as detrimental to their business.
ICI Dulux Decorator Centres, the store group of ICI Paints in the UK and Ireland, used the new legislation as an opportunity to help its customers, educate and inform them, and build on customer relations. It was also an opportunity to partner with the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
A survey was commissioned by ICI and sent to 30,000 customers. Published jointly under HSE and ICI Dulux Decorator Centres branding, "Protecting the Fall Guy" presented findings that identified appropriate strategies to inform/educate decorators with a view to changing their safety behaviour.
These strategies included newsletters for decorators on the risks of working at height, one-day events for decorators hosted by ICI and the HSE, working with access equipment suppliers to improve knowledge of alternatives to ladders, and radio and press campaigns. Dulux Decorator Centres was one of the five winners of the 2005 Chief Executive Leadership Award for Sustainability. Each winner was considered for the Chairman's award.
In presenting the awards, ICI Chief Executive John McAdam said: "Each winner is an excellent example of initiative and achievement in the different categories. In the category of product stewardship, our Dulux Decorator Centres team embarked on an innovative programme which started in July 2004 and is continuing today. Through it, ICI has been differentiated as a leader in the market for information about the issue of "Protecting the Fall Guy".
