The new Midlands Health and Safety Event opens its doors at the NEC, Birmingham next week, running alongside the Facilities Management exhibition. Both events are interesting to COBA Europe, and our respective entrance flooring and safety matting divisions. COBA works with both Health & Safety Managers (primarily with our workplace matting) as well as Facilities Managers; the latter being more focused on our entrance mat range.
There is always an interesting cross-over with our flooring products. In many cases entrance matting is as much about reducing slip-related accidents, as it is about floor protection through controlling the ingress of dirt and moisture. So, entrance matting is still very relevant to Health & Safety Managers across a broad spectrum of businesses. Most buildings, whether industrial, commercial or leisure, have a reception area all requiring effective entrance matting of either the grand or basic variety.
The role of the Facilities Manager can cover a diverse range of structural and operational issues within a building. Floor coverings of course being just one of these! BIFM, the British Institute of Facilities Management, defines it as: “… the integration of processes within an organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities”.
It is easy to take both these roles for granted but they are vitally important to the safety and smooth running of any organisation. The marketing team at COBA Europe will be visiting the NEC events to see what is new and innovative in both the Health and Safety, and Facilities Management sectors.
The Health & Safety Event and Facilities Management take place in adjoining halls and are open from 11 to 13 March 2014 at the NEC Birmingham.
