THE WORLD’S LARGEST HEALTH AND SAFETY TRADE SHOW: WHAT WE SAW
We had the privilege of attending A PLUS A trade show in Germany. With 1200 exhibits across nine halls showcasing the latest trends in health, safety, and security in the workplace, it is the world’s largest health and safety event. The show was incredibly impressive, but our favourite was hall six, which mostly covered working at height, including companies and equipment manufacturers like Petzl, Singing Rock, Skylotec and, CT.
One of the most impressive stands belonged to Skylotec, a german company that has been a part of the working at height industry for more than 70 years. They specialise in manufacturing PPE for fall protection, installing permanent fall protection systems, and training for safety at height. They are particularly prominent in the wind turbine industry.
We particularly liked the Skyvest, a high visibility vest fitted with a sensor-controlled airbag that aims to mitigate injury from low-level falls. The vest detects the wearer is falling and instantly inflates the airbags protecting the vital organs, head, and neck.
But Skylotec’s star was undoubtedly the Actsafe ACX Powerascender for industrial use. The power ascender by Actsafe (now owned by Skylotec) has been around for a few years, but not many of us have had to opportunity to see it in action, or better yet, give it a try. This lightweight (weighing only 13kg) battery-powered ascender can lift and lower people and loads effortlessly on a climbing rope.
Skylotec and CT (a member of Skylotec) have a range of new and improved products that we are reviewing soon.
Another exciting product we got to test was Kong’s new I-Connector range of carabiners. These carabiners are equipped with NFC (Near Field Communication) chip. These chips allow anyone with the app to scan the carabiner with their phone and view its complete history. This system will significantly simplify equipment inspection and access to records anywhere.
These chips are also available on a range of other equipment manufactured by Kong.
The guys from Never Let Go manufacture a range of great tool lanyards, bags and tether points, including their new Space Net, which is connected below the technician and catches any falling debris.
But the most fascinating yet straightforward product was their Tether Tape. It is a self-fusing silicone tape with fibreglass reinforcement used to create a permanent attachment point on tools that do not have one. Tether points are vital yet undersupplied pieces of equipment needed for working at height.
So often, we are issued tools like knives, hammers, and drills on site that don’t have attachment points, and we are left to rely on non-rated materials to create one.
WHAT'S NEXT...
We meet up with the duo from Taz.
