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A-Safe is the best Yorkshire Fitting in safety for Yorkshire Copper Tube
Yorkshire Copper Tube (YCT) is a part of the KME Group, Europe's largest producer of copper and copper alloy products, and is a leading supplier of copper tube to the United Kingdom and many countries worldwide. The roots of Yorkshire Copper Tube stretch back to the time of the English Industrial Revolution. Operating in the UK from a modern, state-of-the-art factory situated at Kirkby, Liverpool, the company offers comprehensive ranges of plain and plastic-coated tube for heating, plumbing and gas applications. All tube meets the requirements of appropriate product standards, notably those of EN 1057. Yorkshire is licensed to use the BSi Kitemark and the marks of numerous international certification bodies, while the company’s Quality Management System has been approved and registered by BSi to the requirements of BS EN 9001. They combine advanced manufacturing methods and sophisticated quality control techniques to ensure that only consistently high standard tubes are supplied to their customers. Ongoing substantial investment programmes are testament to their commitment to excellence in product quality and customer service.
The commitment to excellence is mirrored by YCT’s policy on site safety in utilising A-Safe safety barrier systems, vested in the capable hands of Alan Ogilvie, Facilities Manager.
Copper, as a natural material, is environmentally friendly and 100% recyclable. All Yorkshire Copper Tube’s manufacturing processes are continually refined to minimise their impact on the environment and they operate ongoing programmes to reduce energy consumption. Yorkshire has been at the forefront of process developments, ranging from in-line annealing in the early 1980s to the recent replacement of trichloroethylene degreasing with a more environmentally acceptable process which eliminates the emission of solvents into the atmosphere. Yorkshire’s packaging is designed to minimise the creation of consequential waste: packaging materials are selected wherever possible to be recyclable.
As part of Yorkshire Copper Tubes’ development and safety investment plans, A-Safe has played a large part in facilitating change in C Bay, where the first “spinner” drawing machines was installed in ‘C’Bay in 1971. New plans and restructuring have changed this predominantly manufacturing building into a Warehouse complex.
There was a real need to segregate staff from both busy FLT and HGV routes, Alan explained: “Three years ago a small section of A-Safe Pedestrian Barrier was trialled for a scrap handling area. The trial was successful and the commitment to A-safe has snowballed from there. We were so impressed with A-Safe, we realised very quickly that we did not want to go back to using metal barriers for our safety needs. You could say A-Safe is YCT’s barrier of choice. We are looking at a major investment of £400k in total in converting C Bay from manufacturing to warehouse utilising a one way system and displaying plenty of signage to re-enforce pedestrian segregation from transport. A-Safe has come up with the right solutions for our needs, creating sign gantries over access points on designated pedestrian routes along the perimeter and through the middle cross aisle.”
Alan went on to explain further why A-Safe was a preferred option: “In previous reconstruction work the appointed contractor would supply their own metal barriers from their own local source. This has led to a mish mash of sizes, styles and performance. Not only that, the maintenance costs were very high, mainly through floor damage. Impact forces always go through the floor anchor points and when rigid metal is used it nearly always results in sections of metal barrier being replaced, but also the floor being repaired which takes time to fix, creates fumes through welding and consumes lots of energy; repairs also come with a high carbon footprint in environmental terms, let alone the cost. At YCT we are very conscious of being environmentally friendly to meet modern concepts, but we are also cost conscious. We contracted for £30k of A-Safe barriers in this phase of the work; the equivalent steel would have been near to £80k with all the on-going costs mentioned earlier. Because A-Safe’s structural characteristics of inherent strength and structural memory allowing them to buckle on collision, dissipating impact forces and then springing back to the original state. There is the added bonus of little floor damage when impacted, hence being highly cost effective for YCT. It’s also very good looking and ascetically pleasing, the staff reporting it to be ‘functional’, ‘dramatic , ‘in your face’ and ‘easily seen’. We appreciate that A-Safe products are tested and meet BS standards complying with legislation, many metal barriers do not.”
In terms of outright performance in safety, Alan went on to say: “Nothing derogatory has been reported as an ‘incident’ or logged in the ‘Near Miss’ category, we could always see where the steel barriers were hit.
We also like the fact that A-Safe barriers need no painting and easily cleaned. In fact, they are the icing on the cake as far as this project is concerned.
We have also trialled a section of rack end protection and the Area Manager is keen on using A-Safe in the near future when we erect our racking systems to facilitate better storage and logistics. I am particularly keen on the new A-Safe RackGuard system which would seem ideal for our needs.”
Alan Ogilvie is a very committed and dedicated manager. He is part of ‘The Environment Network – Knowsley Area’ in association with the Chamber of Commerce to promulgate good practice on environmental issues in the workplace. He is so pleased with A-Safe that he is advocating its use in wider areas, some of his views which A-Safe Research and Development department will take into consideration.
Alan concluded with: “A-Safe is cost effective, does its job and is environmentally friendly and we will be pleased to go forward with A-Safe on future projects”
