The doors to Brough Methodist Church in the East Riding of Yorkshire may always be open, but its parishioners are certainly not open to injury…

During a recent interview with Mr. Gwyn Woolley – the Church Treasurer and Health and Safety Consultant for the Church Council – we found out a little bit more about what goes on at Brough Methodist Church and what the Church Council has done to ensure the Health and Safety of its congregation and of its younger members in particular.

Prior to his appointment as Church Treasurer, Gwyn had been the Head Teacher of a local primary school and so already had a very good knowledge of issues relating to child safety. What is more, Gwyn’s wife has worked extensively with a large number of nurseries as part of her work with the local college and so child safety is an issue that has always been quite high up on their list of priorities. Interestingly, it is from these very connections that Gwyn discovered Fingershield some years ago; a discovery that was to be revisited years later…

In the spring of 2006, concerned about the risk posed by the heavy doors within the church building, the Church Council decided to install Fingershield devices on every door that the children of church members or the play group children are likely to go through, and what is more, he installed the devices himself.

By way of an introduction, Gwyn began by providing more insight into the Health and Safety role that he assumes at the church, saying: “I am now a trained Health and Safety Officer and I act as a Health and Safety Consultant for the Church, so in conjunction with the weekday work that I do, I am obviously always looking at things that need updating or improving. We were conscious for a while that this was one gap we had in our safety procedures that we wanted to fill, so we went ahead and protected the doors.”

Worship for the little ones…

Throughout the year, the church welcomes quite a large number of children on almost a daily basis, with the children’s play group and the Junior Church to be found at the heart of the child-focused activities. Originally run as a private letting, the play group is now run by a management committee which includes several members of the church and takes place four days a week. As for the Junior Church, once the Sunday family service is under way, the children are led to the Social Hall at the back of the church to take part in their own age-related activities.

So with the play group and Junior Church attracting high numbers of children each week, Gwyn wanted to eliminate the risk of children getting their fingers trapped in a door. However, children are not the only ones who are vulnerable to such traumatising accidents, as Gwyn explained: “On Wednesdays – the one day of the week that the play group isn’t held – we host an activity called Leisure Time, which draws in quite a large number of elderly people who come together for lunch and various craft and social activities – so finger trapping was always a worry not just where children were concerned but for elderly people as well.”

Obviously passionate about the importance of Health and Safety, Gwyn’s approach is quite simple, as he summarised: “I believe it is important to ‘prevent’ accidents rather than ‘remedy’ them. Proactivity is the key.”

Since the doors around the church have been protected against the risk of finger-trapping accidents, Gwyn commented on the difference that the Fingershields have made to the church, saying: “Virtually all of our doors have door closers on them, so they do pull shut and they are generally quite large doors as well. I think it is just one big potential area of serious injury that hopefully we don’t have to worry about any more.”

“A product we had heard of and could trust”

So what did Gwyn have to say about Fingershield in particular? “We looked at four or five similar products. You were not the cheapest, but you were the one we had heard of, which is important. I also thought that the warranty was important and not all other companies were offering the same kind of guarantee. We felt that you were a product we had heard of and that we could trust,” he explained.

Having fitted the devices himself, Gwyn said: “Yes, I fitted them personally. The fitting instructions helped a lot and, like with anything else, it gets much easier once you’ve done one or two.”

And is the church still happy with the safety of its doors? Gwyn commented: “We’re really happy with the Fingershields – they cut very nicely, they fit very nicely, and they open and close beautifully. They are also very neutral – we bought the white device and so whatever colours are around them, they do not clash in any way.”

So in an environment where children – and indeed people of all ages – come and go on a regular basis, Brough Methodist Church has certainly got all angles covered where Health and Safety is concerned.

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