Quality and innovation drive our sector

In our sector, whether you are a contractor, manufacturer or distributor, what differentiates brands is safety, quality and trust. And to build on this success and remain at the top of your game, you need to innovate so that customers benefit from new products and services that improve performance and are more cost effective. Lack of innovation will expose any business to greater competitive pressures.

Within our business, product innovation comes at a high price and can be hard to justify in a marketplace where orders are lost to cheaper, often inferior, untested products – for the matter of a few pennies.

Sourcing from new suppliers, either in the UK or outside, comes with a warning. It may be a cost-effective option but it may not offer the same levels of quality that in-house manufacturing gives. Verification of quality control, audits and certification all help to confirm and maintain rigid quality standards.

The fittings used by our sector are often safety critical. So having the confidence to know that what is being delivered does what it says is important. When something goes wrong because a product did not perform or it was wrongly installed, designers, contractors and manufacturers are at risk of facing the consequences.

The Grenfell Tower disaster has seen performance and quality of other building products being questioned.

Without question, cost has to be the right cost; however, quality is absolutely fundamental. Forgeco was formed to satisfy growing demand for quality equipment. Two decades later, we still manufacture fittings at the same plant, to the same rigorous standards, and we are now the UK’s oldest independent fitting manufacturer.

By working with our clients to innovate, specialist contractors can improve performance and profitability. This approach has led to the development of new products, such as the KLAWZ, Tamer and ScottiClip range of fittings along with the Safelinx board retaining system.

Access and scaffolding products demand the highest integrity. Having trust in component quality gives contractors the confidence to select and use the components that they know are fully tested and manufactured to a safe standard.

With millions of individual components in use across the sector, it is critical that steps have been taken to ensure that tube, fittings or system are fit for purpose.

Innovative brands spend many thousands of pounds on auditing and testing to demonstrate that what they are manufacturing and erecting meet the standards required. A substandard component, or a poorly fitted one, can lead to catastrophic results.

R Dale Managing director SCP Group UK | Forgeco Ltd

www.SCPGroup.uk www.Forgeco.co.uk

PERI delivers first BASE course on system scaffolding

PERI has delivered its first CISRSaccredited BASE course to apprentices from Scaffolding Association member J.MAC Scaffolding, based in Stockton-on-Tees.

The course is designed for non-scaffolders looking to pursue a career in the industry and replicates real-life site situations. Trainees are taught the fundamentals of scaffolding, with the course providing the basic skills and knowledge to erect, modify and dismantle system scaffolding in just five days.

Non-scaffolders gain practical experience by training with the PERI UP Flex system, which is the formwork and scaffolding provider’s response to high-quality, flexible and safe system scaffolding.

Following successful completion of the course, the J.MAC Scaffolding apprentices qualified for a BASE scaffolding card endorsed by CISRS, which will enable them to carry out basic scaffolding operations on most project sites.

The new five-day course is one way that PERI is helping to increase the number of skilled operatives in the industry and demonstrate the benefits of system scaffolding.

www.peri.ltd.uk

Quick and secure scaffold tube lifting with The Gaydon Clamp

The innovative Gaydon Clamp saves labour time by allowing scaffolders to lift and lower scaffolding tubes up to multi levels quickly and easily.

Users just need a standard scaffold spanner to secure and release The Gaydon Clamp on two scaffold tubes at a time, safely and with maximum efficiency.

Andrew O’Connor from Gold Standard Scaffolding has put this new clamp to the test on-site. He said: “We’ve found The Gaydon Clamp to be a great solution to one of the few remaining high-risk but necessary tasks that come with the job.

“Knots can be tied wrong, and incorrect ropes are commonly used. This fitting eliminates these risks and makes our job safer.”

Luke Bacon, from Bristol Access Scaffolding, describes The Gaydon Clamp as being “a great invention and an excellent modern replacement to the traditional tying on using the rope,” adding, “It’s simple to use, meaning the guys can confidently lift kit safely and quickly whenever they need to.” www.gaydonhenderson.com