Voice of the


Ken Smith from Kuny’s/CLC gives us his views on his area of expertise and also how he sees the current financial position from where he now lives and works in Canada.


Gloves in the Workplace. It was all too often


thought that wearing gloves in the workplace was not the ‘macho’ thing to be seen doing. Fortunately in recent years common sense has prevailed to a degree and a lot of tradesmen are now looking for something special.


Today’s gloves are


designed for specific tasks and for the most part there are no more ‘floppy’ fingers and waste material or oversize and badly fitting ‘hand covers’ which in turn could easily cause serious injury when caught in machinery or other industrial equipment. The introduction of the ‘specialised’ glove is now, or should be, a thing of the future with gloves produced solely for use and protection in the chemical industry and other areas of industry


Work Gloves are the


number one item to consider when assessing or setting up a priority list of PPE requirements before entering a work site or any other industrial area. Hopefully the current legislation will do more than encourage on site workers to make use of the best hand and finger protection available.


On the last Independent survey completed for the retail glove market in North


America it was estimated that across the complete range of some 200 different models of our gloves the bottom line sale value was in the region of $600 Million Dollars. This line of product has come into its own and contributes greatly to bottom line margins. Another survey reviews the market in the United Kingdom for these products at £60 Million. This is nothing to be sneezed at when looking for a ‘bread and butter’ product to boost volume sales.


Despite the downturn in worldwide economy, Canada has weathered the


storm pretty well with the current inflation rate below 3% and has been forecast to follow the downward trend for the foreseeable future. The Canadian Dollar


telephone 01444 440188


continues to edge upwards against the Pound Sterling, albeit only a few points at a time, which in the long term provides a better and stronger trading edge into the UK marketplace.


Canada’s Debt to GDP ratio is currently sitting at 34.9% for this year which is not great, but when you consider the figures produced for the rest of the major countries in Europe and the UK, it begins to look not too bad at all - 57.2% for Germany, 72.6% for the US, 72.9% for the UK. France comes in at 81% and the worst offender by far is Italy, 104%. An all round average of 80% of Debt to Gross Domestic Product is there for all to see.


If the members in


the British Parliament cannot agree amongst themselves on a solution to this crisis, how in the world do they expect to convince the others and remain afloat during this current financial crisis. The current crisis reminds us, in reality, we haven’t learned very much in 2 thousand years. CICERO is alleged to have written (in bold script) in 55BC. Someone in circa 2008 added the remainder of the alleged quote but the words can easily be applied to today’s situation:-


The Budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, Public Debt should be reduced.


“The arrogance of Officialdom should be tempered and controlled and the assistance to foreign lands be curtailed lest Rome fall” (become bankrupt) People must once again learn to work instead of living on public assistance”.


Alberta, where I live and work, is a rich province with vast resources, especially


in crude oil. We have deposits of oil (8.5 times more) in the North of our province which is greater than those in all Saudi Arabia. Alberta is 252,000 sq miles in area with just over 3 million residents. Wood Buffalo National Park is large enough to accommodate the UK and Northern Ireland with more than 60 Million people. I cannot speak for the rest of Canada because each province has its own laws and parliamentary set up and their own economies to balance. However, Canada will no doubt cope very well or at least we will be a lot steadier than any country in the European bloc.


ToolBUSINESS+HIRE 5


Industry


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