12 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS March 2024 www.hpmag.co.uk NEWS the UK manufacturing sector performs and grows. Focussed on creating a supportive environment for UK manufacturers to thrive, it invites and enables manufacturers to connect, share, solve problems and create opportunities together, through regional and national meetings, groups, events, and advisory boards. As it stands, manufacturing currently accounts for almost one in five employee injuries and fatalities in the workplace. Figures from 2021 show that the HSE fined UK-based manufacturing firms more than £8 million for health and safety breaches. There were 10,382 non-fatal injuries and 15 fatalities in the manufacturing industry in 2022/23, with slips, trips, and falls accounting for 24% of non-fatal injuries. Make UK says it sees lone working as a significant concern as it can increase the risk and severity of any accidents at work. According to recent estimates, there are around eight million lone workers in the UK, making up a significant 22% of the country’s total working population. Despite this, a recent survey of lone workers and occupational safety executives uncovered a significant communication problem around what safety measures are in place for these workers. 97% of companies have formal policies in place to protect lone workers but one in five lone workers are unaware of these policies. This suggests more needs to be done to provide lone workers with the equipment and comprehensive training they need to work safely. Make UK says its partnership with Peoplesafe aims to support manufacturing and engineering, businesses in fulfilling the obligation to better protect workers. Chris Newson, Environment, Health and Safety Director at Make UK says: “The partnership brings together the best of both organisations in one accessible package. Employee safety must be top priority in any manufacturing business and our partnership with Peoplesafe will provide all Make UK members with access to the most up-to-date guidance on lone worker safety best practice, alongside the most cutting-edge personal safety technology.” Naz Dossa, Peoplesafe CEO and BSIA Chair of the Lone Worker Group, comments: “Peoplesafe is not just about providing tech solutions. We want to help tackle the problem at source and it is our continuing aim to amplify the issue of lone worker personal safety in the manufacturing sector. Many employers still underestimate the impact that providing 24/7 safety and peace of mind brings, and by working with Make UK to improve levels of lone worker safety across the manufacturing industry, we hope to set a standard that eventually becomes the basic requirement for any employer.” The partnership was launched at the Manufacturing Conference, which took place on the 27 February at the QEII Conference Centre, Westminster. ERIKS & Festo celebrate partnership 25th Anniversary Andy Parker-Bates, Relationship Development Manager at Festo highlighted other initiatives where the two businesses are combining their strengths: “We recently had 12 of ERIKS’ sales team take part in their P111 Fundamentals in Pneumatics training course at our Northampton facility which enables them to provide a first line of support to the customers and we also train many of ERIKS’ end users either at our HQ on at their own site.” Over the years there have been a number of firsts achieved as a result of the partnership. ERIKS was Festo’s first £1 million annual spend account in the UK and the first distributor to spend £1 million pounds annually. It was also the first EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) Distributor for Festo and there has been a “Logistics revolution” according to Paul Lynch, which in the early years saw Festo products transported daily from Northampton to Halesowen and then out to the local branch network. “That was seen as cutting edge back in the day” says Paul “but now we are not reliant on a local branch network to deliver products. We have removed that obstacle from our system, and we now ship directly overnight from the FCE which is the Amazon-type experience people now expect. ERIKS Industrial Services and Festo UK & Ireland are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their partnership with a host of activities that will develop the relationship further and continue to grow business for their mutual benefit. The two businesses started working with each other in the 1990s, firstly at a local level but as Paul Lynch, Chief Commercial Officer for UK & Ireland at ERIKS commented: “We wanted to become a national presence in the UK with a pneumatics offering and we wanted that brand to be Festo due to the quality of their products. Festo were looking, for the first time, at what they could achieve by embracing distribution, which wasn’t part of their DNA, and so both businesses took a leap of faith on each other and here we are 25 years later celebrating our silver wedding anniversary.” The full catalogue of Festo’s standard products is available via ERIKS with the fast-moving products stocked at their FCE (Fulfilment Centre of Expertise) in Oldbury as well as the range of configurable products. A recent area of development has been the addition of energy saving services such as compressed air audits that the two businesses are working closely on.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=