Mark #GLAD2024 on your calendar

Powered by the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) and supporting organisations, Global Lifting Awareness Day (#GLAD) is now a widely celebrated day where manufacturers, suppliers, and end users are among those that share material that promotes safe and high quality load lifting. Social media posts, videos, articles, and in-person activity will again be bound together by the hashtag, #GLAD2024.

Ross Moloney, CEO at LEEA, said, “GLAD is now positioned as a globally recognised concept and has achieved a brand-like status, perhaps ahead of schedule, following ongoing efforts from industry stakeholders to raise its profile. We’re looking to use its popularity to raise awareness of what our industry people do and what those outside of the sector need to do to become part of our world. This is why the themes LEEA will focus on this year are skills and employment.”

The new logo captures this evolution, moving away from the previous version that centred on a hook, towards a graphic that focusses more on the title of the awareness event. The text is built around the gantry element of so many cranes and lifting technologies — instantly recognisable to industry representatives with the means to promote the sector. LEEA has consciously pivoted, putting the main focus on GLAD rather than a particular component or piece of equipment, reiterating that #GLAD2024 is for everyone.

Moloney said, “The messaging has always been underpinned by raising awareness – a theme that endures. We are still raising awareness, but the difference will be that we will focus on attracting new recruits and developing those already in the industry. Expect to see references to CPD [continual professional development] and training, as we showcase the abundance of opportunity our marketplace represents.”

As with previous years, LEEA is encouraging its members, end users, and everyone in between, to contribute by using the graphic and hashtag to celebrate their involvement with the industry and promote it as an interesting place to work, with skills and employment as suggested focal points of outreach efforts. It is a membership that understands the value of continually raising standards, with #GLAD2024 serving as a platform from which to convince a wider community to train and develop their staff, while signposting pathways into lifting.

Moloney added, “LEEA’s vision is to reduce all accidents, injuries, and fatalities within the lifting industry to zero, and we have various initiatives in place to achieve this. The fundamental tool in all these initiatives is knowledge transfer, enabling CPD, and raising standards of practise. The way by which LEEA provides access to and disseminates knowledge, is through vehicles such as our online training platform, technical triage, Chatbot, guidance documents, and other resources.”

Industry representatives are again invited to share their content so LEEA can add it to the website — www.globalliftingawarenessday.com — where information about apprenticeships, military recruitment, diversity, sustainability, and technology has been posted during previous years.

Celebrate the lifting industry on Thursday 18 July — include the #GLAD2024 hashtag.