June 25th 1995 was probably the luckiest day of my life as I made the leap from around 100ft off the top of the Radisson Hotel in Manchester with my colleague Tom, who thankfully survived the stunt unscathed for the BAFTA award winning episode of ‘Cracker’ starring Robbie Coltrane.
After a lengthy recovery from a back injury only 2mm from my spinal cord, my career as a professional stunt artist continued and I went on to work on several big profile films such as the James Bonds, Titanic, Terminator 3 and the Harry Potter franchise.
Over 25 years later I’m now an experienced stunt coordinator as well as the CEO of Crash Mats for Hire.
We are passionately dedicated to preventing injuries in the work place. The crazy thing is that 99% of falls from height occur when employees are working from under 2 metres high! This is due to the false sense of security you feel at these low heights as opposed to when you are 10 meters up high where you are holding on for your dear life!
It’s worth mentioning that if you are around 5ft – 6ft tall and you fell off a platform only 2 metres high, (that’s roughly 6.5ft), your head, which weighs around 10kg – 12kg would fall 12ft to the ground, most likely to a concrete floor, at a velocity of around 19mph in about 0.85 of a second. So it’s unsurprising why 20% of all fatalities every year are from falls from height.
The consequences of incidents occurring to all involved can be devastating. If an employee or member of the general public receives a serious head, neck or back injury, they may require millions of pounds worth of care for the rest of their life. If the company is proven to be negligent, their insurance will not pay out. This can lead to companies going into immediate administration, millions of pounds worth of fines from the Health and Safety Executive, as well as years of legal fees and court proceedings, prosecutions and in severe circumstances, prison sentences to those responsible.
We are highly experienced safety consultants. We can advise your production, project, legal team, health and safety consultants and insurance company to provide you with the correct safety mats for your employees, ensuring your company is working in line with The Working at Heights Regulation Act 2005.
We look forward to talking to you.
Best, Marc
Marc Cass – CEO Crash Mats for Hire Ltd
