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KIRKLEES BUSINESS NEWS The business NEWSpaper for Kirklees
Backer sought for site safety device
AN invention which could reduce accidents on building sites has been masterminded by a Huddersfield man. Now Paddock-based Dave Roberts is seeking funding to put his patented device into full-scale production after his prototype attracted admiring attention from potential customers, including one of the UK’s biggest construction companies. Dave, who has worked around the construction sector for many years as an independent haulage contractor, has devised Sitevice – a new type of vice which can be used by workers on construction sites or DIYers to secure items such as plastic and metal pipes, bricks, floorboards and guttering for cutting. He started working on the idea about 15 years ago after seeing how workers using power saws on building sites were using their feet or knees to steady the object they were slicing through – with potentially dangerous consequences. In other cases, workmen were cutting through pipes lying directly on top ■ CUTTING ROOM: Dave Roberts with his Sitevice invention and (left) putting the safety product through its paces of scaffolding boards – often resulting in the boards being cut as well and Now they are 50-50 joint venture part- for Fripp, said Sitevice had undergone duction. having to be thrown in the skip. tests with one major construction “We are flexible about the finances. “There was a clear health and safety ners in Sitevice Site Tools Ltd. The device uses a system of four company We might look at banks or investment issue,” said Dave. “I went away and That company – which operates from a business such as a steel fabricastarted working on a device to secure v-shaped uprights and two straps the object securely and allow the work- which lock into place to secure the sites across the UK – was now drawing tion or plastic mouldings manufacitem being cut. Sitevice can be fastened up a letter of intent to adopt Sitevice as turer.” man to cut it without risk of injury. “It was a ‘eureka’ moment – seeing to a workbench or the ground and is a standard product on its sites. Said Dave: “The product has been Said Sue: “We are confident that this created here in the UK and ideally we guys on site struggling to cut through light enough to be carried to where it is needed. is a product which will become an would like to see it being made here in pipes and so on and risking injury.” It can also be modified to include absolute requirement under health Yorkshire. Through a mutual friend, Dave teamed up with Fripp Research and dust extraction or water-jetting adapt- and safety regulations. “I cannot believe there isn’t a manu“Now we need to raise the finance to facturer in Huddersfield with the capDesign, a Sheffield-based business ations depending on the materials specialising in industrial design, to being cut and the environment in provide the tooling for a first produc- a b i l i t y t o p u t S i t e v i c e i n t o tion run of 2,500 units. We envisage production.” help build a prototype and put the which the cutting is taking place. Sue Roberts, commercial director needing £150,000 to tool-up for proproduct in front of potential buyers.
INSIDE Fresh approach A COMPETITION to help help students understand how supply chains work has been incorporated into a degree programme at Huddersfield University. The university is the first in the UK to make The Fresh Connection, devised by local firm SCALA Consulting, part of its logistics degree programmes.
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5, April, 2011
Building business A FAMILY business with operations encompassing the covering the construction sector is opening a new business.
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Solicitors for business inYorkshire www.chadwicklawrence.co.uk Huddersfield | Wakefield | Halifax | Leeds