Attitudes and misconceptions behind many workplace accidents

20 October 2020

Slips, trips, falls, heavy lifting or inaccurate handling – every year there are hundreds of thousands of work-related injuries reported in the UK, resulting in pain, absence from work and loss of earnings. While safety in the workplace has a major impact on productivity and profitability, safety precautions are all too often neglected. The Link met with Patrick Hellström, Growth hacker at SCC member Safelift and Martin Stevens, Country Manager UK and Ireland at SCC member Ejendals to discuss why.

Injury reduction through education
The reason why many workplace accidents occur has to do with attitudes and misconceptions regarding work equipment among those who are supposed to use it, a fact which is confirmed by both Martin and Patrick. "Many people have an idea of ​​what a lift is and what it isn't. A large portion of our clients currently have no lifts but instead rely on traditional ladders. For us, it is crucial that we are allowed to present our products to explain the benefits that come with it,” says Patrick.

Ejendals actively works to resolve this issue through 'Ejendals academy', an education programme with the aim of contributing to a reduction in the number of injuries by providing training sessions and teaching product awareness. “Attendees learn when and how a product should be used, as well as when a product needs to be replaced. In addition, it gives us an opportunity to learn from our clients what they actually need.”

Suppleness is crucial
Safelift manufactures compact and flexible mast lifts facilitating work in for instance retail and grocery shops, installation, cleaning and property management. "The company was founded with the goal of making working at height indoors safer by replacing ladders", Patrick explains. He emphasizes the importance of their products being flexible and convenient. “We must be able to show that a lift is a suitable alternative also to companies that are not working in heavy industry”. Martin agrees: "Hands and feet are the body parts that get injured the most. However, a glove that doesn’t fit or becomes an obstacle to work around won’t stay on, which means the employees expose themselves to risks. Making the Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) convenient to wear is consequently almost as important as it is to make it protective.”

Sweden associated with quality
While establishing themselves in the UK as late as 2013, PPE manufacturer Ejendals (named after ‘Lake Ejen’) history goes all the way back to 1949 when it was founded in Leksand. “The company is still run by the same family, and our core focus is still to provide high-quality products that protect hands and feet.” However, in recent years, we’ve gone from being a very traditional Nordic business to becoming an international business,” Martin explains.

Both Martin and Patrick mention that a difference between the Swedish and the British market is that the British market is much more saturated. “To overcome this hinder, promoting ourselves as a Swedish company has definitely been beneficial as the country is associated with manufacturing quality products,” says Martin.

Reinvention in times of crisis
In regards to the Corona pandemic, they both state that it has affected their businesses. "For Safelift, we've seen an increased cautiousness among our prospects regarding how willing they are to invest," says Patrick. However, both Martin and Patric are optimistic about what the near future holds for their companies. "I'm very proud of how our team has responded to the pandemic. We've managed to quickly reinvent ourselves and, on the basis of pre-Covid success, we are actually expanding our team in these dire times,” says Martin. “Safelift is about to launch a new lift that is even smaller and more flexible than our current lifts and we are confident that it will be able to convince a lot of prospects to replace their traditional ladders with our safer alternative,” Patrick says.