You can’t put a price on safety

Dave Broxton, Bohle’s managing director, discusses how price isn’t everything when it comes to ensuring that your staff are safe at work.

In the construction industry in 2022/23, there were 53,000 non-fatal injuries at work (Health & Safety Executive), highlighting critical health and safety issues.

Whilst it is impossible to know the root causes of each individual case, according to Dave Broxton – Bohle’s managing director – the only way to ensure that your business does not become a statistic is to provide your staff with the best, and safest, equipment possible to do their jobs.

“We’re working with a very dangerous material in glass and glazing,” Dave says. “Often at height and always with hazards. Most people think it’s the risk of cutting that is the key danger factor, but in many cases, it can actually be the weight of a falling glass pane that causes injury.

“For instance, if you take a relatively small piece of glass destined for a balustrade: let’s say it’s 21.5mm toughened laminated, 2m x 1.1m. That piece of glass alone would weigh around 120Kg – more than enough to cause crush injuries, or sever fingers and toes. Add height to the risk assessment and fatality becomes a potential outcome.

“We’re also seeing a trend for oversized, large glass panes, where you have double or triple glazed units that are extremely heavy. Whilst they look amazing when installed, the installation process itself can often pose a headache for the team installing it, due to the safety elements. The same applies to sashes with bonded glass components.

“So, our message to customers is to always be safe, and be sure, and to do that you need the best glass handling tools and equipment available: that’s where our Veribor range comes in.”

Lift easy

Designed and manufactured by Bohle to make the manual handling of glass and sheet materials safer and easier, Veribor is a long-established product line that is engineered to perform with a minimum 2:1 safety margin in order to more accurately reflect real world usage.

The Veribor 601 and 601G pump activated hand suction lifters are both suitable for load capacities of up to 120kg and come with a high visibility vacuum gauge. This is designed to prevent injuries and damage that could occur from any loss of pressure, by giving users a clear indication of the strength of the vacuum and suitability for lifting.

Veribor also offers the additional reassurance of being approved by TÜV. As an independent test accreditation, the TÜV GS mark ensures that all relevant Veribor products meet the strict quality and safety requirements set out in the German Product Safety Act, which is widely regarded as setting the benchmark in safety testing.

Quality over price

“First and foremost, it is an issue of health and safety,” Dave explains. “Given that they are increasingly handling larger, heavier units, installers and installation companies should have total confidence that the equipment they are using is up to the job.

“There are lots of cheaper alternatives on the market, and whilst you may spend less on the initial purchase, is it worth risking the health and safety of your employees with a product that isn’t tested and accredited? With Veribor, they can be 100% assured that it is fit for purpose.

“It’s one of our best-selling lines for a reason. The Veribor products are so popular because our customers can trust them, they know that they will do the job they are designed to do.”

This trust not only in Veribor, but in Bohle as a brand, was discussed with long-time Bohle customer, Luke Browes, managing director of Stowmarket Glass.

“We have been a Bohle customer for as long as I can remember – we use them for as much as we physically can, from glass cutters, PPE, lifting equipment, all the way through to physical hardware such as glass clamps, and shower screen fittings. If they do it, we prefer to buy it through them.

“When it comes to lifting equipment, we use Bohle for whatever we can get. For example, we buy the Veribor suction lifters on a regular basis, which we sell in the shop. And they’re just something that’s on the van day in, day out, because they are so useful. We couldn’t do installations without them!”.