Lack of awareness and complacency are the main causes of serious accidents and fatalities for employees working at height, a Greater Manchester training specialist has warned.

Bolton-based Develop Training Limited (DTL) made the comments after supermarket Iceland was fined £2.5 million for an incident when a contractor fell to his death.

The victim was replacing air conditioning filters in the warehouse of a Rotherham store when he plunged three metres from a platform through a suspended ceiling. Investigators found there were no barriers, restricted working space and several tripping hazards including cabling, and that there had been no risk assessment.

Steve Braund, marketing manager at DTL, said: “This is the latest in an all-too-frequent series of cases where people have been killed or injured because of inadequate precautions.”

DTL has identified lack of awareness and complacency as major contributing factors in many of the cases.

“Common themes crop up time and time again, fragile roofs and skylights in particular, and employers using contractors without effectively checking the contractor will themselves use safe systems of work,” said Mr Braund. “Almost every week there is a report of a death or serious injury of people working at height. Poor assessment of risk, and inadequate control measures, continue to lead to hundreds of shattered lives.”

DTL has produced a handy pocket guide to raise awareness of the factors managers, employees and contractors should consider before commencing working at height.

The free-to-download guide is available at http://resources.developtraining.co.uk/working-at-height-guide

The founders of a Bollington-based business have been glued to the television this month – but for all the right reasons. LUNAR Aerial Imaging’s drone footage of Manchester from the air has featured on two primetime television series in the last two weeks with more television and film appearances due in the coming weeks and months.

Viewers were first treated to from LUNAR’s footage of Didsbury from the air during the second episode of much-loved ITV1 comedy drama Cold Feet. This was quickly followed by Lunar’s aerial footage of Manchester by night in the opening and closing credits of four-part BBC documentary, The Detectives: Murder on the Streets, which first aired on Wednesday 20 September and follows Manchester’s murder detectives over the course of one year.

Greg Chivers, creative and operations director at LUNAR Aerial Imaging, said: “The demand for our stock footage has been growing and we’ve recently set up a stock footage library to allow clients to buy existing aerial footage of Manchester, Salford, Leeds and Bristol. The director of Cold Feet contacted us looking for footage of Didsbury and at that stage we didn’t have any so I offered to go out that evening and capture the footage they needed, they were delighted with the result.”

The screen credits don’t stop there with LUNAR having filmed in Nottingham for series three of CBBC’sJamie Johnson Returns and for Manchester horror movie Habit which is set for release later this year. LUNAR also donated their aerial footage of Manchester for use in the promotional trailer for Ariana Grande’s One Love concert in June and regularly captures promotional footage of the city for client Marketing Manchester.

Established in 2015 by Greg and Jinny Chivers, LUNAR operates a range of multi-rotor drones with camera and imaging systems. The company has secured a permission for commercial operation from the Civil Aviation Authority and have since flown their drones at a range of locations throughout the UK and abroad. As well as production companies, LUNAR works with a range of corporate clients in the property and construction sectors producing still and moving images of site progress and also images used for CGI by property development companies.

Greg Chivers added: “We are passionate about capturing compelling imagery using drones and fly our drones over land, over water, night or day, indoors and outdoors. It is fantastic to see our footage appearing on the big and small screen and we are excited about the increasing number of enquiries we are getting from production companies – both for footage from our stock library and for bespoke jobs.”

A headteacher and an award-winning chartered wealth management company have launched a book aimed at boosting financial literacy in primary schools.

Libby’s Big Aeroplane Adventure has been created by David Evans after Equilibrium Asset Management commissioned the project.

The story focuses on central character Libby, who flies from Toronto to Manchester to visit her grandparents, with the family having a financial budget to work to during her stay.

The book – recently introduced to six schools in the north west of England and North Wales – aims to boost children’s numeracy in a fun way and help teachers plan lessons.

David, who recently gave evidence to a Parliamentary Inquiry into the importance of teaching financial skills to young people, was handpicked by Wilmslow and Chester-based Equilibrium to carry out the project.

“We are delighted with Libby’s Big Aeroplane Adventure,” said 63-year-old David.

“And we want to now roll it out to other primary schools in both North Wales and north west England.

“Essentially Libby’s grandparents have a limited budget to spend on their granddaughter while she visits from Canada.

“Her adventure includes budgeting for a day out at a grudge local football match, going to see one of her favourite bands and also figuring out the differences in prices between the 1970s and now for items such as a loaf of bread.”

He added: “It’s a fun workbook that also includes the brilliant and loveable character Frizzle the chicken. Earlier this month we introduced it to teachers at six schools – Bodnant Community School, Prestatyn, Ysgol Cae’r Nant (Brookfield Primary), Connah’s Quay, Ysgol Bryn Deva, Connah’s Quay, Ysgol Tŷ Ffynnon, Shotton, Castle View Primary School and Runcorn Simms Cross Primary, Widnes – and they really engaged with it.”

Debbie Jukes, Partner at Equilibrium, which currently manages over £700 million of assets for over 850 families, said: “Financial literary is vital to primary education.

“We’d been thinking of ways in which we could help educate children in terms of numeracy and financial skills, and bearing in mind our financial planning background, David’s background fitted in nicely.

“The outcomes of working through the book are based on the requirements of the national curriculum – so whilst it helps children with their numeracy in a fun way, it also helps the teachers from a lesson planning point of view.”

She added: “As a teacher and trainer David has an excellent reputation. We are now hoping to take Libby’s Big Aeroplane Adventure into more schools.”

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce has unveiled the finalists of this year’s Wigan Business Awards.

These annual awards, run by the Chamber, have been sponsored by NatWest and are now in their eleventh year. The awards celebrate business excellence across the borough, highlighting the achievements and hard work of a diverse range of Wigan businesses. There are eight award categories for 2017 including a brand new category.

As always, the quality and number of entries was extremely high, however after careful consideration, the Chamber has selected the following finalists:

Business of the Year (turnover over £5m) – Sponsored by NatWest

Finalists:

• A Connolly Ltd
• Amspec Ltd
• ArrowXL
• European Diesel Services Ltd
• Nice-Pak International
• Northern Diver INT LTD
• Wigan Beer Company Limited

Exporter of the Year

Finalists:

• CPL Carbon Link
• European Diesel Services Ltd
• Northern Diver INT LTD

Family Business of the Year – Sponsored by HullJady

Finalists:

• Anrich Vets
• Carlease UK Ltd

Small or Medium Enterprise of the Year – Sponsored by Wigan Council

Finalists:

• Ashfield House
• Bridgewater Home Care
• Carlease UK Ltd
• EPIC Risk Management
• Joining Communities Limited
• Just Internet Solutions Ltd
• Keytech Managed Solutions Ltd
• Sanderson Watts Associates Ltd
• SN Estimating Services Ltd
• The Allied Group
• The School of Military

Something to Shout About Award – Sponsored by Focus Insolvency Group

Finalists:

• Ashfield House
• Carlease UK Ltd
• Joining Communities Limited
• Joseph’s Goal Charitable Trust
• KDM Electrical

We’re backing Wigan – Sponsored by Wigan Observer

Finalists:

• Abram Ward Community Co-operative
• Joining Communities Limited
• Joseph’s Goal Charitable Trust
• Sensoriel CIC

Start-up Enterprise of the Year – Sponsored by Fairhurst Accountants

Finalists:

• Caffe Rosso Ltd.
• Professional Surveillance Management (PSM) Ltd
• The School of Military

Young Entrepreneur of the Year – Sponsored by Arc Window Films Ltd

Finalists:

• Taylor Thermal Solutions Limited
• The Blair Project Ltd
• The School of Military

Commenting on the finalists, George Langford, Wigan Membership Manager at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said:

“The judges were overwhelmed by the quality and diversity of entries for this year’s Wigan Business Awards across all the categories and we’d like to thank all of the businesses who took the time to submit an entry.

“Throughout the judging process, we’ve seen businesses in the borough highlight their many achievements and how they’re succeeding and competing on a local, national and sometimes global scale.

“This year’s awards may be one of the best yet and I’m really looking forward to celebrating with all of our finalists in November.”

The winners will be announced at the Wigan Business Awards Gala Dinner on Friday 17th November at the DW Stadium