Safe Site – Powered by Mennens Delivers Quality in Fall Protection

Fall protection specialist Safe Site – Powered by Mennens has been part of the Mennens Group since 2011. Mennens is the market leader in the Netherlands in steel wire rope and lifting and hoisting technology. Safe Site initially operated as a separate legal entity and, following its move to the new Expertise Centre in Vlaardingen, became part of Mennens Rotterdam. Through its services and products, the company serves a wide range of industries, including petrochemicals and wind energy. It is also becoming increasingly active in the solar energy sector.

“Since January 2020, we have been operating under the name Safe Site – Powered by Mennens from our Expertise Centre in Vlaardingen,” says manager Dirk van Blijswijk. “With a floor area of 900 square metres, it is one of the largest centres for fall protection in Europe. Here, we provide training focused on working safely at height and below ground level. We have seven theory classrooms and a training hall featuring, among other things, a confined-space container, a silo, a wind turbine and a house. Outside, there are several masts, and the roof has also been set up as a training location.

“In addition to our training facilities, we have a spacious showroom where we display the fall protection and rescue equipment that we sell and use during training. Our extensive product range includes safety harnesses, fall arrest blocks, (caged) ladders, anchor points, confined-space equipment and evacuation and rescue kits.”

High Standards

In addition to training and sales, the company installs safety systems, carries out inspections of personal and permanent fall protection equipment and systems, provides advice on working at height and below ground level, and offers rope access services.

“For work in difficult-to-reach locations, our rope access specialists are available,” says Van Blijswijk. “We also have stand-by rescue teams for work in high- and very-high-risk locations. Safety and quality are our top priorities in everything we do. After all, people’s safety is at stake.

“Thanks to the high standards we maintain, companies can rely on the fact that everything we supply, carry out and recommend is safe, reliable and fully compliant with applicable laws and regulations. I always say that we sell safety when someone asks me what we do.”

Manager Dirk van Blijswijk of fall protection specialist Safe Site – Powered by Mennens.

Macho Culture

The fall protection expert has been selling safety for more than twenty years. Van Blijswijk has worked for the company since 2005 and speaks passionately about his field and the efforts made by Safe Site – Powered by Mennens and the Mennens Group to encourage and promote safe working at height and below ground level.

“Compared with when I first started, a great deal has changed for the better in this respect. Back then, there was still a real macho culture in various industries, and unfortunately the use of safety equipment was often seen as something for wimps. Fortunately, you see that less and less nowadays. Safety standards vary from company to company. Some do very well, while others do less well, but overall there is still plenty of room for improvement, particularly when it comes to thorough training and sound advice.”

Awareness

According to Van Blijswijk, there is particular room for improvement when it comes to confined spaces and locations where people can fall from relatively low heights – below 2.5 metres.

“Many people still believe that fall protection measures are only required from a height of 2.5 metres, but that is incorrect. Dutch occupational health and safety legislation states that measures must also be taken below 2.5 metres if there is a risk of falling. Unfortunately, this is far less widely known. Examples include platform floors and raised areas around machinery.

“Informing and advising companies about these risks and raising awareness of them – and of fall protection in general – is something we work on every day. Raising awareness therefore plays an important role in our training courses. A growing number of companies are making use of our training programmes. In 2019, we issued 3,000 certificates to people who completed one of our training courses.

“Our basic working-at-height course, climbing and working-at-height course, working and rescue in confined spaces course, and our rescue training courses are the ones we provide most frequently and for which there is the greatest demand. Most take place at the Expertise Centre, but we also provide training on site.”

Wind and Solar

The company’s activities cover the whole of the Netherlands. Van Blijswijk explains: “Being part of Mennens, a specialist in areas including steel wire rope and lifting and hoisting technology, has the advantage that companies can turn to a single provider for a wider range of services. These include companies operating in the wind and solar energy sectors.

“We have been working for the wind energy sector for many years, both onshore and offshore. For example, the training hall at the Expertise Centre contains a model of a wind turbine nacelle. Over the past two or three years, we have also seen growing interest from the solar energy sector. We provide a great deal of on-site training for this industry.

“In the second quarter, we will install solar panels on the pitched roof of the ‘house’ in our training hall and on the flat roof of our building. This will enable us to provide in-house training for the solar sector as well, with courses fully tailored to the specific needs of the industry.”