Switching on to digital TV safety

A safety campaign has been launched to protect aerial installers from injuring themselves when the digital switchover goes live on 4 November.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has teamed up with local authorities to highlight the increased dangers as thousands of homes switch from the old analogue signal to the replacement digital signal.

More than 130 health and safety inspectors, including 51 in Greater Manchester, will do spot checks to make sure work is done safely

The danger comes about not because installing equipment for a digital signal is any more difficult than for the old signal, but simply because of the volume of new installations that will need to take place, which could lead to the work being done too quickly and without proper precautions.

A multi-million-pound advertising campaign has been running to make North West householders aware that, without fitting digital receivers — and in some cases new aerials — they will lose their TV reception.

John Pride, HSE Project Manager for the North-West, said: “It is essential that aerial fitters and satellite dish installers are totally switched on to safety during this busy switchover period.

“Working at height is very dangerous: companies must ensure that safe work systems are in place.”

Thousands of workers are killed or seriously injured in the UK every year while carrying out work at height — there were four deaths and over 300 serious injuries in Greater Manchester alone in 2007-08.