Safety campaign scales new heights at Canary Wharf tower block

WINDOW cleaners at Britain’s tallest building are being used in a national campaign to prevent accidents at work. The workers keeping the glass nice and shiny at London’s Canary Wharf tower are featured in a workplace campaign to tackle slips, trips and falls’

WINDOW cleaners at Britain’s tallest building are being used in a national campaign to prevent accidents at work.

The workers keeping the glass nice and shiny at London’s Canary Wharf tower, the 700ft high One Canada Square, are featured in a workplace campaign to tackle slips, trips and falls.’

Canary Wharf Management which looks after the high rise office block in East London is lending its support to the Health & Safety Executive campaign.

Its managing director Peter Kyte said: “We do all we can through training to make sure workers are aware of hazards. Many accidents in the workplace can be directly related to slips, trips and falls.”

Almost 5,000 accidents were recorded in Greater London last year alone, including three deaths.

The Health & Safety’s Richard Boland said: “The combined financial cost of accidents in the workplace to society as a whole is around �800 million a year, at a time when both businesses and individuals are struggling financially following the recession.”

The HSE campaign is targeting industries where there are a high number of accidents, such as social care, education, food manufacturing, food retail, catering and hospitality, building and plant maintenance and construction.

It follows a similar campaign begun last week on construction and refurbishment sites where inspectors have threatened to close them down where there are practices putting lives at risk.