FEATURE
PANDEMIC PROTECTION
Respiratory specialist Supreme Visors has combined their expertise and manufacturing capabilities to meet unprecedented demand for PPE in the healthcare sector.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, specialist UK PPE manufacturers have been quick to pivot their businesses to respond to the call for adequate protection. A recent wide-reaching government response has seen deals struck with more than 30 companies and delivered over 1.65bn items of PPE through the ‘Make’ initiative - to use the production power of the UK’s manufacturing sector and ramp up domestic manufacturing capabilities.
Lord Paul Deighton, Adviser to the Health Secretary on PPE, said: “The response from our manufacturing industry has been phenomenal and I can’t thank them enough for their continued efforts. Every health and care worker must have access to appropriate PPE and through this national effort we will ensure they do.”
One specialist UK PPE firm that has flexed its business to meet demand for essential PPE, and so far, produced over 12m visors for both the UK and European markets, is Supreme Visors based in the north-west of England.
Supreme Visors’ products are the main component for a wide variety of applications from shot blasting and paint spraying to mine clearance and bomb disposal. The firm makes thousands of different profiles in around 70 different materials. As a specialist respiratory equipment and helmet manufacturer, Supreme Visors is known as a ‘neck up’ PPE manufacturer.
Owner of the business and engineer, Paul Ferguson, has many friends and colleagues working within healthcare and has an unrivalled insight into the specification needed to provide adequate protection against an invisible airborne threat. He said: “My concern, and that of many in the country working in healthcare situations, is that in our rush to respond to the pandemic early PPE equipment provided was not fit for purpose for dealing with highly infectious COVID-19 patients.”
With his vast amount of experience in specialist optical equipment, Paul was contacted early on in the pandemic to see if his expertise could be used to design and produce a visor for a PPE face shield for use in a healthcare setting. Paul created a new design over a weekend and production at his manufacturing plant started in earnest with an extra shift laid on plus increasing production to six days a week.
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With increased capacity, the company has been manufacturing these new visors at a rate of over one per second, all whilst other production continues in the factory.
NHS guidelines stipulate that within one metre of a patient with possible or confirmed COVID-19, eye protection and a fluid repellent facemask is used. In dealing with high risk procedures, including contact with bodily fluids a full-face visor and respirator mask is to be used.
As experts grow concerned about the possibility of a ‘second wave’ of coronavirus cases, UK PPE manufacturing firms like Supreme Visors are expected to continue to develop specialist healthcare equipment en force.
With this in mind, the development team at Supreme Visors wished to create the ultimate face shield (in terms of protection, comfort and design). The company is expecting to launch a new BSI accredited and CE marked Model X face shield in the coming weeks which is specifically aimed at healthcare professionals.
Paul added: “We’re committed to putting our expertise to use to assist in the global efforts towards eliminating the pandemic. Our knowledge of ‘neck up’ protective equipment means we have been able to provide health care staff with PPE kit that is fit for purpose in the continued fight against COVID-19.”
www.supremevisors.com 19
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