Theatre Safety Network Editorial page

	Virtual Safety Column written by Paul Edwards, founder of Theatre Safety Network^TM
	Published in The Safety and Health Practitioner

February 2003 edition

In this month's column, Paul Edwards, webmaster of uksafety.net, looks at a web site with basic fire safety information, a research resource that combines the reference facilities of more than sixty libraries and a site where safety video clips can be downloaded free of charge.

Any rating of a web site is bound to be subjective, but to assist your search for useful information, products and services each site will be rated on the basis of:

Category

Access speed using standard telephone line and 56K modem
User-friendliness of the site in terms of the presentation of information
Ease of search for useful information on the site
Freebies, or free-to-download material that is useful to the safety professional
Links to other, useful, health, safety and environmental web sites

Rating

*Excellent*
*Good*
*Fair*
*Poor*
*Very poor*

We would appreciate your feedback about sites that you think we should visit. Your rating of the sites would also help us to moderate the subjectivity of the site ratings that we attribute to the sites that we review.

If you would like to contribute information about sites that you think will be useful to fellow safety professionals please e-mail your information to feedback@theatre-safety.net

This month's sites:

UK Government
http://www.firekills.gov.uk

Ask a Librarian
http://www.ask-a-librarian.org.uk

UK Government http://www.firekills.gov.uk	*Access speed*
	*User-friendliness*
	*Ease of search*
	*Freebies*
	*Links*

Burning issue

I came across this web site, by accident, during a recent visit to the HSE web site. One of the banner advertisements on the HSE home page caught my eye - it read "Fire Kills, You can prevent it".

At the time I was visiting the HSE web site for a specific purpose and so I did not click the link, but thought that I would return to the link and follow it later. Unfortunately, the banner advertisement was one that was displayed on a random basis, and so I had to refresh the page a number of times before it contained the link I was looking for!

The site is crammed full with basic but very useful information on fire hazards, risks and preventative and precautionary measures. It is obviously aimed at the domestic market, but it is good, solid information that is well laid out and stimulating to browse. It is excellent as training basic fire safety training material, particularly for organisations such as colleges and universities that have student accommodation.

5/6 on favourite

The site is divided into six main sections::

Safety Essentials – covers the do’s and don’ts of fire safety including good and bad habits, and action to take in the event of a fire;

Additional Needs – examines the specific requirements of people with impaired hearing, vision or mobility;

Parents and Childcarers – looks at making homes child-friendly, as well as child related specific risks and precautions;

Renting and Sharing – provides advice for tenants and cohabiters;

Fire Safety Code – summarises hazards and control measure topics, fire safety equipment and evacuation planning found elsewhere on the site.

The section referred to as “Kids Area” (their typing error, not mine) is still under development.

As there are many commercially available packages that do not come close to being as good as this web site, it must be worth a look.

Ask a Librarian http://www.ask-a-librarian.org.uk	*Access speed*
	*User-friendliness*
	*Ease of search*
	*Freebies*
	*Links*

Shhhh!

Actually, you can be as noisy as you like because you will not disturb anyone else using this library service!

Ask a Librarian is a collaborative venture between libraries across the whole of Scotland, Wales and England, available to answer questions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The site is relatively straightforward. It is divided into seven sections:

about – describes the service and how it can be used;

tips – provides guidance on how to get the most from the service, including looking elsewhere;

sample Q & As – gives the user an idea of the range of questions that are asked of the service and an idea of how their questions should be phrased;

participating libraries – a list of libraries participating in the service with a link to their web sites;

contact us – snail mail addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses, as well as links to on-line forms for posing a question and volunteering to assist in delivering the service;

help – provides basic guidance on what to do if your question seems to have gone unanswered;

join us – designed to give the extra little nudge to those visitors who think it is a great idea and are keen to become involved in delivering the service.

Safety professionals are becoming very web savvy these days, but not all information is readily available through the Internet. This site is likely to prove a Godsend for tracking down elusive facts and figures, publications and utterances that are the mainstay of persuasive argument.

Lastly, although e-mail support groups are proving to be popular amongst students for requesting guidance for research projects and assignments, sometimes fellow students just can’t help. All students should be made aware of this web site.

Update

Some time ago I reported that the HSE had produced a series of 45 second videos that were being broadcast by ITV regions around the country. The video clips provide first hand accounts of accidents and incidents and would be invaluable when faced with course participants or colleagues who do not believe that things can and do go wrong.

At the time, I said that I was disappointed that the video clips were not available on video to use as teaching aids. Well, I’ll eat my hat! Not only are the video clips now available, they are now available as downloadable Windows Media Audio/Video files.

And it just gets better. When expressing disappointment that the clips were not available on video, I would have happily paid the tens of pounds typically charged for HSE videos. These clips can be downloaded for free!

For access to the download links visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/campaigns/worksmart/main.htm