LEEA Roundtables Discuss GLAD Themes
20th May 2026
A series of LEEA Roundtables continues, co-located with our Regional Events and industry conventions, including the Health & Safety Event in Birmingham, UK. A central topic throughout has been this year’s Global Lifting Awareness Day (GLAD) theme: ‘Not all lifting equipment is created equal’.
Roundtables are free to attend for all members and are designed to facilitate honest conversations with LEEA and peers about the challenges being faced in industry. Confirmation of the seventh staging of GLAD on Thursday 2 July 2026 has energised conversations as LEEA prepares to publish a guidance document that procurement professionals can use to source lifting equipment.
The Midlands Roundtable followed an earlier discussion in Aberdeen, while Warrington was the setting for equally vibrant dialogue before another meeting takes place in Southampton on 28 May and Glasgow hosts what will be a fifth gathering. These summits will in turn generate further feedback to sharpen ongoing GLAD messaging.
Matt Barber, director of membership at LEEA, said: “The topic for these Roundtables has been specifically chosen to line-up with the work we are doing for GLAD. As our launch materials stated, the most consequential decision in a lifting operation is often made weeks before the lift takes place, at the point of purchase. While this year’s campaign builds to a crescendo in sharing the guidance document, Roundtables serve as platform for free-flowing discussion around the subject in advance.”
Buying products wisely
GLAD is a widely celebrated day where manufacturers, suppliers and end users are among those that share material that promotes safe and high-quality load lifting. This year is upheld by a programme to help the industry describe its products clearly and buy them wisely, which was a key takeaway from the Roundtable at Birmingham’s NEC.
As David Cormack’s two-year tenure as chair of the board gathers pace, he has been on hand to deliver introductory remarks. However, the meetings are designed to be facilitated by LEEA, not hosted by the association per se. Pivoting towards GLAD, key subjects tabled for debate included procurement, compliance, education and awareness. Participants highlighted the importance of targeting compliance professionals, leadership teams, and other top-level decision-makers who shape standards and purchasing behaviour.
LEEA is bifocal in conducting a spring survey campaign, with product suppliers and those making procurement decisions central to the body of research. Manufacturers use a multitude of description conventions to bring lifting equipment to market. That ambiguity means procurement professionals cannot reliably distinguish between a product engineered for demanding operational use and one designed for occasional application — and LEEA has the accident data to prove it.
LEEA’s Barber said: “Our end goal is to bring suppliers and buyers together on 2 July to make a collective pledge to do better.”
- Follow the campaign and share your stories using #GLAD2026.