20
MARCH 2016 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Terry joins Liniar sales team
Terry Grant has joined
the Liniar sales team
to provide additional
support for the company’s growing customer
base.
A well-known face in the
trade with almost a quarter
of a century of industry experience, Terry brings with
him a wealth of know-how
as he reunites with former
colleagues.
He began in the industry
in 1992, working at Regency Plastics for two years
before moving on to KB
Sterling for another two,
and then spending four
Scaffolder paralysed
after fall through roof
Hemel Hempstead Scaffolding Limited was fined
£110,000 after a worker was
left paralysed when he fell
from the roof of a barn.
Stewart Thomas from Hemel
Hempstead, 31 at the time of the
incident, was carrying out scaffolding work in preparation for
the installation of solar panels on
a barn roof at Gaddesden Home
Farm.
St Albans Crown Court heard
that father of one Thomas was
placing scaffold boards along the
roof ridge in July 2013 when he
fell through the fragile roof to the
concrete floor eight metres below.
He suffered multiple injuries to
his head and neck including a
brain stem injury, a punctured
lung, broken ribs and a lacerated
liver.
Thomas is now unable to talk,
move or feed himself and requires residential care.
An HSE investigation found
Hemel Hempstead Scaffolding
had never provided a written
method statement or risk assessment for this work.
Critically there were no fall
protection measures in place, and
there was also no appropriate
supervision of inexperienced and
trainee scaffolders on the site.
Hemel Hempstead Scaffolding
of Hemel Hempstead pleaded
guilty to safety breaches and was
fined £110,000 and ordered to
pay £22,596 in costs.
After the hearing Stewart’s
mother Karen Coffey said: “I have
had to move from my home and
family in Hemel Hempstead to
Northamptonshire to be near
Stewart.
“Since the accident all our lives
have been dramatically changed
– hopefully we can try and move
forward to make Stewart’s life as
best we can with his family close
by him.”
Speaking after the hearing HSE
Inspector Stephen Manley said:
“The company’s approach to
health and safety was poor.
“They failed to properly and
safely plan the work they were
contracted to carry out and failed
to supervise inexperienced young
workers.
“The particular works would
have been unfamiliar to the team
and so the lack of thorough supervision was lamentable.
“As a result of their failings a
young father has been left being
unable to communicate or look
after himself and he will never
be able to play with his young
daughter.
“When working at height, there
is a high likelihood of serious
injury or death if safe procedures
are not put in place and adequate
steps taken to ensure they are
followed.”
Source: Construction Enquirer
years with Diplomat before
joining Eurocell in 1999. He
spent 16 years there before
leaving his role as Regional
Manager in the south last
June.
Terry said: “The message
from the customer base
has pointed to a desire for
product innovation to meet
movement and development in the market place.
You only have to walk
around the showroom at
Liniar to see that philosophy of innovation is behind
everything that they do.”
Terry already had good
relationships with several
of Liniar’s sales directors
(Howard, Martin and Ken)
after working alongside
them at Eurocell.
He took six months’ garden leave due to the terms
of his contract with Eurocell, which also prevents
him from contacting any of
his old customers until July
this year.
Terry will be on the Liniar
stand at the FIT Show
in April for anyone who
would like to come along
and say hello.
www.liniar.co.uk
SEAL-LITE INVESTS
£300,000 OVER
18 MONTHS
Swish fabricator
Seal-Lite Group has
reached the end
of an 18-month
investment in
the company’s
infrastructure.
Every aspect of production has been improved
with the cash injection of
£300,000. The shopping list
has included new machinery
from Rotox, Elumatec and
Haffner-Murat in addition to
tracking technology from
First Degree Systems. The
result is a score of more
than 99% in on-time and infull deliveries to customers,
but also a marked improvement in the efficiency of
internal operations.
With sales swelling to more
than £5million including a rapidly
growing trade sales division of £3
million, Seal-Lite, based in Clevedon, Somerset, has grown on the
back of its policy of transparency
and value for money, dependable
quality and deliveries.
“We have an excellent reputation in the south west that means
we will grow into the increased
capacity as a matter of course,”
said Chris Shearn who runs the
company with brother Jim. “We
were already running at very high
efficiency and quality rates but we
wanted to improve the processes
as well as grow output.”
Demand for the company’s
products has increased through its
retail sales but at an even greater rate of growth among trade
customers.
www.epwin.co.uk