Torque Wrench Calibration – Torque Tool or Meter Calibration

Torque Tool Calibration Overview
Why get your torque wrench or torque tool calibrated?

If you care about the reliability of your products, about how well they’re put together, about your customers’ safety. And you care about the reputation of your company. You’ll know that regular torque wrench calibration or torque tool calibration is an essential part of your quality assurance activities. It may even be a legal requirement.

Let’s face it, most torque tools get a lot of abuse in service. Yet most people expect them give reliable, accurate performance day after day, month after month.

An established UKAS torque calibration laboratory will have been providing torque calibration services to customers throughout the UK for many years so quality and reprutation is guaranteed. A UKAS certified laboratory have their systems, people, training, and technical capabilities of a UKAS accredited laboratory are regularly and thoroughly examined and tested by UKAS auditors, each of them specialists in their field. It is an expensive and time consuming process, but our ongoing accreditation and fulfilment of the requirements of ISO17025 means you can rest assured that they have the competence, impartiality and performance capability necessary to consistently deliver technically valid calibration results each and every time.

Although the work is usually performed in an accredited UK laboratory. If you have a large quantity of air or electrically operated torque tools such as screwdrivers for instance, which are difficult to remove from site, a torque calibration service provider can perform torque screwdriver calibration on your premises.

In addition to torque wrench calibration and torque tool calibration we also calibrate closure meters, watches and analysers and a host of other torque tools and gauges.

With every calibration that the calibration laboratory will perform, they will issue you with a certificate quoting full measured results at no extra cost.

UKAS torque wrench calibration, torque tool or screwdriver calibration
Range Covered…  0.2Nm to 1,000Nm

Industrial Air Power, the air compressor specialist, announce the launch of a new contract air service.

Industrial Air Power Limited can now provide users of compressed air the choice of purchasing compressed air in the same manner as other utilities.  IAP can install a bespoke compressed air facility at your plant and will remain totally responsible for all operating and maintenance costs for a predetermined period of time, normally three to five years.  IAP guarantee to supply high quality, clean, dry compressed air at a mutually agreed flow rate, pressure and dew point for the entire period of the contract.  A fixed monthly contract price is mutually agreed based on the cost of the plant, installation and service requirements specified throughout the term of the contract.  The objective of Contract Air is also to provide 100% reliability by providing the highest standard of preventative maintenance, including SPM monitoring, oil sampling and regular service visits.  IAP also operate a buy back scheme depending on age and condition of the redundant plant.

The advantages of contract air can benefit a business greatly and none more so than in today’s tough economic times. Advantages include no capital outlay and no maintenance or breakdown costs and most of all, guaranteed quality air and flow rate.

For the past ten years IAP has been responsible for maintaining and servicing all of the compressor plant at British Ceramic Tiles Limited, the largest tile manufacturing facility in the UK.  Andy Selley, the Project / Services Manager of British Ceramic Tiles is responsible for all of their industrial compressed air plant and equipment.  Andy was considering updating all of their compressors and associated equipment at a very high capital cost.  IAP introduced the concept of Contract Air as a more cost effective option as opposed to tying up large amounts of capital.

Industrial Air Power has been a distributor for Ingersoll-Rand for thirty years specialising in the sales, service, repair, air compressor maintenance and air compressor hire of a complete range of compressed air equipment including air compressors, air tools, air winches, air pumps, air hoists, dryers, filters, air motors, spare parts and accessories. The company employs a team of factory trained sales and service engineers operating in Wales, Gloucester, Avon, Bristol, Devon and Cornwall.

For information on all of IAP’s services and products including air compressors hire and air compressor maintenance, visit http://www.airpower.co.uk

The new Inventory Management Solution from Lambda calibration Ltd.

Lambda Calibration Ltd, the Chorley based UKAS calibration laboratory are pleased to announce their new Inventory Management Solution.

The Inventory Management Solution (IMS) enables clients to have free web access to their measuring equipment calibration records. The client can generate “recall” and “overdue” reports and even export the measuring equipment inventory to a spreadsheet. Calibration certificates can be downloaded, viewed or printed calibration certificates. Simple and easy to use, this new Inventory Management Solution has already been a useful tool for existing clients of Lambda calibration Ltd enabling the storage and viewing of calibration records going back years.

To access the system simply click on the IMS link at the top of the page. Complete the on-line form and submit it. Lambda Calibration will then review the details entered. Once the account has been approved, Lambda will activate the chosen username and password and an email will be sent. The new IMS account can then be used.

Lambda have made the system extremely easy to use as many of their clients are busy and do not have the time to learn a complicated new system. There is a help section inside which will only take you a minute or so to read should it be required.

Lambda Calibration Ltd is an independent laboratory providing UKAS accredited gauge, meter and equipment calibration services throughout the UK and Ireland. With years of experience spanning all sectors and UKAS accreditations across multiple disciplines, Lambda is a genuine “one stop shop” for all measuring instrument services including gauge calibration, tool, electrical, meter, pressure, instrument, temperature, thermometer, torque and torque wrench calibration.

For more information on all the UKAS calibration services offered by Lambda Calibration Ltd, visit http://www.lambda-cal.co.uk

In terms of electricity conservation, an electricity meter is the first step to monitoring energy consumption which then leads to energy conservation.

Panel Mount Electricity Meters – These types of Electricity Meters fit into a hole cut into a panel or enclosure. There size is normally expressed as either a DIN96 or DIN72 being the cut out hole size 96mmx96mm or 72mmx72mm square respectively. Electrically they are available in single phase, three phase, basic kWh only or as Multi-function instruments (these options are further explained below). In addition some models have plug in modules that can be fitted after the meter is installed which offer pulse outputs, MODBUS Communications, BACNET Communications, Analogues Outputs and Alarms etc.

DIN Rail Mount Electricity Meters – These types of Electricity Meters fit inside a panel or enclosure on Top Hat or DIN Rail. Electrically they are available in single phase, three phase, basic kWh only or as Multi-function instruments. DIN Rail Electricity Meters are usually supplied with any pulse or communications options when the meter is bought and cannot generally be added to at a later date.

Tariff / Billing Meters – unlike the Electricity Meter mentioned above which are for sub metering indication purposes, tariff or billing meters can be used by landlords, caravan park or marina owners to bill their clients and tenants for energy used. These energy meters come in a variety of formats.
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Calibration, basically involves the comparison of a measuring instrument, the Unit Under Test (UUT) to a Standard of known accuracy.

The standard comparison for calibration would ideally be more accurate than the UUT and have its own calibration certificate which can be traced back through an unbroken chain of calibrated standards to an appropriate standard held by a National Laboratory. In the UK, this would be the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

UKAS Calibration is essentially calibration service work undertaken by a laboratory which has been independantly audited and subsequently accredited by UKAS to carry out the work.
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Industrial Air Power Ltd is the authorised distributor for Ingersoll Rand Industrial Technologies products throughout Wales and the South West of England. The two companies have made a dramatic shift from being suppliers of equipment to providers of solutions. We are fully conversant with all aspects of air generation and equipped to carry out energy audits on any installed system, regardless of size or manufacturer.

A full system audit includes leak detection, measurement of energy consumption, and flow measurement including pressure, temperature and final air quality.

As utility rates continue to rise and firms continue to look to green initiatives, energy consumption has become a growing concern for manufacturers.

One of the largest energy users within a plant is the compressed air system. Energy recovery provides a cost-effective way for manufacturers to reduce their energy bills while simultaneously benefiting the environment by capturing the thermal energy created through the compression process and putting it to work. Where the heat produced from a compressor can be fully utilised, simple payback periods of less than two years are frequently achieved.

Having already worked with Carbon Trust on a variety of projects, Terram called on its expertise when faced with rising energy costs. The specialist manufacturer of geosynthetic materials, employing 95 staff at its manufacturing plant near Pontypool, worked with Industrial Air Power to eliminate energy inefficiencies and redesign and install a new air compressor system. The result was an industry best in terms of energy usage and savings of £202,000 per annum. It also produced:

* Energy savings of approximately 11.25 million kWh over five years
* Cost savings of approximately £1m in five years
* Emission savings of 7,390 tonnes CO2 in the same period
* Payback of approximately 24 months

David Roberts, control engineer at Terram Ltd, said: “The savings we are seeing now are unbelievable but just as important is the fact that we are reducing our carbon emissions and therefore benefiting the environment.”

Although Terram had already started to investigate the costs for new compressed air systems, it hadn’t looked at where, when, how much air was being used. Carbon Trust helped it identify this and used Industrial Air Power to design a system to meet its needs.

Having a tailor-made system installed in turn allowed Terram to capitalise on secondary savings such as heat recovery and compressed air leak reduction.

Ongoing monitoring of the fully automated system allows the savings to be quantified. Monitoring also ensures that the focus on savings is maintained and remains a high priority for Terram.

The new compressor system was located into the steam boiler house. This enabled Terram to recover the waste heat generated by the air compressors and use this to raise the temperature of the water in the hot well, which feeds the boiler. Increased water temperature in turn reduces the amount of gas needed to generate steam.

The aggregated savings from the installation of the new system and implementation of the measures identified represented an 11.8 per cent reduction in the site’s energy consumption and overall a 38.7 per cent reduction in the electrical energy consumption directly associated with the generation of the compressed air.

An annual CO2 saving of 1,214 tonnes has been achieved plus an additional 264 tonnes from a reduction in gas usage due to the heat recovery process.

From monitoring the system, it was calculated that Terram was using on average 85m3/min of compressed air with an efficiency of 8kW/m/min, which equated to 7.2 million kWh per annum. By installing a new compressor set supplied by Industrial Air Power, it was calculated that the efficiency could be improved to 6kW/m3/min. Post-installation monitoring has proved that the new machinery provides an average efficiency of 5.8kW/m3/min – delivering significant savings. The gas savings are on top of this.

The benefits to Terram have been fourfold: a significant reduction in energy costs, the ability to protect plant integrity, reduced maintenance cost and the added benefit of reduced gas consumption from the increased water temperature in the steam boiler hot well.

Installing new Ingersoll Rand two stage fixed speed compressors along with a Nirvana two stage trim compressor, fully automated via a control system provided Terram with primary energy savings. Secondary savings came as a result of the heat recovery process, lower maintenance costs and the leak reduction programme.

The exercise has been successful in achieving reductions of CO2 emissions and the overall costs of supplying the service of compressed air to the business.

A Carbon Trust Wales consultant worked together with Industrial Air Power and Terram engineers providing impartial, independent advice enabling the company to make an informed decision and deliver value for money. Carbon Trust independently validated the energy savings and confirmed that they exceeded Industrial Air Power’s initial projections.

Through our experience in carrying out hundreds of compressed air audits we have identified the majority of existing compressed air systems include one or more of these deadly sins. This will have and adverse affect on your reliability, productivity and energy consumption.

* System over-pressurisation resulting in increased artificial demand
* Excessive waste through air leakage
* False loading of compressors due to lack of system automation and volume
* Inefficiency caused by cycling fixed output compressors
* Excessive pressure drop

If you would like advice on calculating your savings potential and increasing your company’s profitability contact Industrial Air Power on 01656 658961, email sales@airpower.co.uk

Business critical areas are even more important to keep safe from fire in these tough economic times.

In today’s harsh economic times, effective and dependable fire suppression within business critical areas such as data rooms remains essential, but securing it at the right price can be difficult. Ian Bartle examines some of the key challenges involved and explains what can be done to alleviate the pressure on those critical budgets.

It’s understandable that in all businesses, continuous examination of operating costs are routinely made. Within this, the cost of fire suppression is often considered to be a relatively high but necessary cost. However, there can be very few applications where the absolute reliability of operation of the automatic fire suppression equipment is more business critical than in a data room.

For instance, data rooms of any size will have an air conditioning system in place to control the temperature because of the tremendous amount of heat that’s generated on a continuous basis. Failure of the air conditioning system to function may lead to overheat situations placing stress on the equipment and components. This could cause an outbreak of fire with a resultant and devastating loss of all data within minutes. And don’t forget, we’re potentially talking here of data that’s taken many years to build.

So no question, data rooms need to be protected by a dependable automatic fire suppression system, but does the cost of the system have to give the financial director sleepless nights? The answer is a resounding no.

One thing that we all know is that high volumes of water and computers don’t sit happily together. That’s why for years now, chemical gaseous agents such as FM 200, Inert gas systems and now water mist have been employed to do the job of fire protection. They have performed the task of suppressing fires by physical cooling of the affected area or by decreasing the oxygen in the atmosphere to a level that no longer supports combustion. All utilise a system of high pressure pipework and nozzles to deliver the suppression medium into the risk area.

However, recent world wide shortages of raw materials have prompted dramatic increases in the cost of chemical gases, FM 200 in particular. This in turn has affected the cost of new fire system installations and that of recharge and service where gas needs to be replaced  (up to 40% in some cases), making them far less competitive on price. This fact has forced buyers of fire suppression systems to widen their search for equally reliable but more cost effective alternatives.

As already described, Data Rooms need the optimum in automatic fire suppression and extinguishers as do other special areas such as network infrastructures, art galleries, museums, antique centres, and power generation plants to name just a few. The objective is always to save lives and property. But innovative fire protection can now do a whole lot more. Today it combines science and economics and matches these qualities to total effectiveness and reliability.

In the case of Data Room protection there is now a system that not only beats the performance of chemical and Inert gases, it also provides a superior, environmentally friendly fire suppressant. Not only that, the system known as Stat-X allows easier and more cost-effective installations for all these types of challenging applications.

The Stat-X family of automatic fire suppression systems is a second generation Condensed aerosol technology, manufactured to ISO 9001:2008 standards with many internationally recognised approvals and standards such as UL in the USA. It’s a patented potassium-based aerosol that’s ecologically safe, up to ten times more effective than any current halon alternative with zero ozone depletion and no global warming potential.

And if that’s not enough, the Stat-X application automatic fire suppression system technology requires no pressure vessels, manifolds, nozzles or pipe work. All factors which result in significant installation and maintenance savings.

Perlast G75TX sets new benchmark for marine engine perfluoroelastomers.

High performance, marine engine seals specialist Precision Polymer Engineering (PPE), a unit of IDEX Corp., announces Perlast G75TX, a new generation of perfluoroelastomer seal that extends the life of pre-heat chamber and exhaust valve seat seals as engines burn hotter to meet lower emissions standards.

Engine manufacturers and operators are under pressure to reduce SOx, NOx and particulate emissions whilst achieving higher efficiencies, improved fuel economy, and extended maintenance intervals. Perfluoroelastomers are commonly used in the hottest parts of the engine for pre-heat chamber and exhaust valve seat seals. However until now they have suffered from a poor compression set, typically 20%, reducing the seal’s operational life. Perlast G75TX is the first perfluoroelastomer to provide a compression set of 8%, while improving the elastomer’s characteristic high temperature and chemical resistance.

Perlast G75TX sets new performance benchmark
Perlast G75TX has been formulated to provide improved resistance to chemically aggressive, coolants at temperatures up to +327OC (+621OF). In addition, the perfluoroelastomer has low permeability to chemically aggressive coolants making it less prone to swelling, leading to extended in-service performance. And, with an ultra-low compression set of just 8%, many companies are already using the elastomer to increase the efficiency and lifespan of their marine engine seals.

Perlast G75TX is suitable for both dynamic and static applications and can be fully moulded into o rings (any size up to 2m/6.5ft internal diameter) and custom shapes.

“Perlast G75TX is the culmination of perfluoroelastomer developments at PPE over the past 5 years that have systematically improved the elastomer’s high temperature performance, then chemical resistance and now finally compression set. It sets a new performance benchmark for perfluoroelastomers that simultaneously extends the elastomer’s operating limits in marine engines,” says David Holt, business development director, PPE Ltd.

PPE is a world leading designer and manufacturer of high performance rubber sealing solutions. The company’s elastomers product range is used in many demanding manufacturing environments around the world. Applications as varied as semi-conductor manufacturing, food processing, pharmaceuticals, marine engineering and power generation benefit from PPE’s innovative, robust and reliable sealing solutions.

Founded in 1974, PPE has over 35 years specialist sealing expertise, offering an unrivalled range of products from over 170 elastomer materials. The company’s materials scientists and applications technologists are working at the forefront of elastomer technology, developing new materials for specialist applications. These include PERLAST®, the world’s leading perfluoroelastomer for critical sealing applications such as semiconductor and pharmaceutical manufacturing, and ENDURA® which was specifically developed for use in the oil and gas industry.

For more information on Perlast G75TX, rubber gaskets and all the PPE products visit http://www.prepol.com.

Shelving units and systems are essential for all business premises whether it be a warehouse or an office. Organising files, stock and pallets makes for greater productivity in the workplace.

Mesh Decks – Heavy Duty Industrial Wire Shelves
Metal wire shelving (also known as wire decks) is a cost effective and strong alternative to timber and solid industrial steel shelving to store pallets and unusual shaped products. Industrial wire shelves are commonly used as a safety feature to stop pallets and products stored on them from falling through the rack structure and come in various weight duties and dimensions.

Even heavy duty wire mesh shelving allows for easy installation due to light weight and durable materials used in construction. They come supplied in several sections across one pallet racking bay. Metal wire shelving is dropped over the pallet racking beams and held in place by either waterfall decking, which extends over the top and down the side of the beam, or lay-in decking, which rests in the step of the beam. No fixings are required.

Metal wire shelving is specifically designed to handle unusual sized loads or uncommon pallets without being unsafe. For example, when the racking system is designed for chep pallets, with metal wire shelving, it is now safe to store the smaller europallet.  Whilst heavy duty shelving allows for carrying one or more pallets, lighter duty metal wire shelving can be used as shelves for individual products to allow for easy access. Examples of these can be seen at warehouse whole sales and picking systems.

Safety inspectors encourage industrial wire shelves, as unlike solid metal and timber shelving, they allow water from sprinkler systems to flow down the shelving system.

Hygienic metal wire shelving has been designed to store food products in commercial catering. This includes nylon, stainless steel and chrome wire shelving to help airflow products and to help against corrosion in areas such as cold rooms and freezers.

Getting the maximum productivity from office space can be aided with Mobile Shelving Systems. You can double the capacity or half the space taken by your non moveable shelving system.

With mobile shelving there is no need for multiple access aisles; only a single aisle space is required. Aisles are created according to the location of the files required by moving the shelves apart.

Mobile shelving systems run on minimum friction tracks laid simply and quickly onto your existing carpets or floors – no fuss, no disruption. These can then take your existing or new shelving, cupboards or filing cabinets, and the mobile shelving is moved by either ultra-low friction manual wheels or simple 13A plug electrically assisted systems. It’s quick, simple and safe but highly space efficient too. Easy moveable shelving.

These shelving systems can also enhance the security of your filing system, as the mobile shelving can be closed or locked to restrict access to sensitive documents and offer a sleek contemporary design fitting to every office environment and is easy to reconfigure as the business grows or moves.

•    Easy to specify, install and relocate.
•    A mobile shelving Liverpool is installed on top of your existing floor without the need for fixings.
•    Minimum disruption during installation.
•    Fully modular – the moveable shelving system can be easily relocated or extended as circumstances change.
•    Rolled Edge Shelving and storage accessories are a common fitting to all frame styles – so you can adapt your industrial shelving as future needs change without worrying about compatibility. Accessories feature clip-in fitting so that any changes are quickly and easily made.
•    A major advantage of rolled edge shelving are the slim profile shelves and frames which give runs of shelving a neat, coordinated appearance. This design feature, coupled with the colour options on the frames and optional decorative end cladding makes it ideal for use in offices and commercial environments, where the slim profiles minimise wasted linear space and optimise use of the storage area.
•    Whether for front of office storage of ‘live documents’ or long-term archiving, rolled edge shelving is the ideal solution.
•    Having the right industrial shelving systems and storage shelving units key to operating an effective document and data management system. This is especially true now that the Data Protection and Freedom of Information Acts are placing further pressures on organisations to comply quickly and efficiently.
•    Rolled edge shelving, with its wide range of sizes and accessories, is the right solution to meet the needs of today’s modern office environment.

Dredging is required for various reasons including environmental, commercial and industrial uses.

Environmentally, examples of the use of dredging are to clear waterways also to collect sand in order to repair coastal erosion. Industrial and commercial uses dredging are for example the collection of materials used in concrete production and the dredging for valuable trace substances.

Dredging has become an essential operation in process of flood prevention through increasing an area’s capacity for holding or carrying water away.
Dredging requires not only the correct craft but also the correct dredging equipment which is mainly the dredging bucket. Each type of dredging project requires a different type of bucket as each location and material required to be dredged is different.

Dredging buckets are made by the process of the fabrication of steel through welding. They are either constructed in a workshop or onsite depending on the nature of the usage and location. Dredging buckets can range from 3m3 to 25m3. The first process is to design the bucket using CAD software and then the drawing service. It is these critical initial stages that enable the bucket to be fabricated.

The materials used in the construction of dredge buckets, excavator buckets and mining buckets are highly sophisticated. The steel is high strength and abrasion resistant with tungsten or chromium carbide wear protection systems. Each bucket is ESCO wear resistant encompassing their protection systems and are bushed and line bored.

As mining, excavation and dredging buckets are often used in challenging and demanding situations, it is important to keep on top of refurbishment. A professional dredge bucket manufacturer should also offer the service of repair and refurbishment.

The refurbishment and repair of mining and dredging buckets is as skilled a job as manufacturing. The welding and fabrication processes are as complex and so a fully equipped workshop is required with a lifting capacity in the region of 15 tonnes. The welding should be to ASMA 9 standard or higher with a mobile line boring facility. Once the welding and fabrication has been completed the process of the abrasion resistant and steel plate coatings can be implemented.

Yarwoods Plant contractors services can be broken down into three key areas, as follows:

1. Machinery Centre
The Yarwoods machinery centre located in Inverness, not only offers our traditional excavator attachment Plant Hire, Sales & service business but also supplying Gardening and Ground-care Equipment to both domestic and professional customers. Their product range includes lawnmowers, Ride-on Mowers, hedge cutters, chainsaws and strimmers to tractors, Rough Terrain vehicles and safety clothing.

2. Welding & Fabrication:
With Yarwood’s taking care of your welding and fabrication work, you are drawing on years of experience gained from a broad range of projects. From construction equipment to fabrication and refurbishment of large excavator buckets and from steel structure fabrication to on-site welding.

3. Plant hire, Sales and Service:
Specialists in excavator attachment sales & hire from Augers and Arden Grabs to Hudco Compaction Plates, the renowned  Hydraulic Hammer only available in the UK from Yarwoods, plus the Hydraulic breaker.

Royal Mail has announced 1st and 2nd class standard mail price increases which will take effect from 6 April 2010.

The price of 1st class standard mail (weighing up to 100g) will increase by 2p to 41p and 2nd class mail by the same margin to 32p. Postage price increases are nothing new but what does differ with this price increase is that of ordinary meter and account mail, i.e. mail franked by franking machines. The prices for franked mail are to be kept at the old rate.

This is great news for businesses and organisations that send out high volumes of mail but such a saving, typically 7p* on 2nd class franked mail, is now making franking machines an attractive option for even smaller mail outputs, for example, 25-50 items per day.
Using a franking machine means stamps never run out and mail can be organised and posted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Integrated scales give you the correct postal tariff for all mail ensuring complete accuracy. Increased brand awareness and the ability to send messages on franking labels are other advantages of using franking machines.

Efficiency in business is the key in today’s climate both in the form of money and time saving. Franking machines create savings on both for a business or organisation. For example, if you had an employee on a salary of £14k per annum, and they made one 30 minute trip to the post office every week you could save an additional £14.60 a week by using franked mail. So not only with the price freeze on franked mail from April 6 but with more efficiency in time management, franking machines should be the way forward for thousands of businesses.

The Mailing Room is a leading supplier of mailroom equipment and consumables including franking machines. Visit http://www.themailingroom.com for more information.

Grip tape and non slip tape are often thought as exactly the same product but there are differences.

Grip tape is the same as non slip tape, isn’t it?
Put simply, yes and no!  Modern skateboards have their origins in the late 1950s, when grip tape started appearing in the 1970s the most commonly available mineral in the US was silicon carbide (also known as carborundum tape).  From the 1980s onwards throughout western industry aluminium oxide became more prevalent as an abrasive mineral and began replacing silicon carbide; it was more readily available, more quality consistent, had the same level of hardness and was cheaper.  Grip tape can be produced with either, with some non slip tape only produced using aluminium oxide or S2 (a form of silica).

I have heard that silicon carbide is better and tougher?
Completely untrue.  As mentioned above silicon carbide was the original grip material however from the 1980s onwards moves were made towards production using aluminium oxide.  Mineral hardness is measured by the MOHS scale, both aluminium oxide and silicon carbide register the same mineral hardness, 9.  1 is talc and 10 being diamond.  Silicon carbide retains its place in grip tape usage mainly as an ‘old school’ remnant, reminding boarders of its vintage 1970s roots, in performance there is little difference with aluminium oxide offering better quality output.

What about the adhesive?
Most grip tapes have a lower level of adhesion compared to non slip tape.  A skateboard is an easy substrate to adhere onto, in the worst case it might have a lacquer coat.  Anti slip tape might be applied onto extremely low energy substrates, the most difficult materials include PP, PUR and siliconised powder coat.  Non slip tapes have to possess an adhesive capable of permanently and instantly bonding to these surfaces, this can only be achieved with modern, advanced and often application specific adhesives.  The old system of simply applying a higher coat weight is no longer seen as an effective approach.
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Robert Hyde Greg was an economist, successful industrialist and the founder of Manchester’s Quarry Bank Mill. He was elected Member of Parliament for Manchester in 1839, was a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and a founder member of the Mechanic’s Institute. Set in huge rolling grounds he built Norcliffe Hall, which has fishing rights to the River Bollin, as his family home in 1815. A Grade II Listed Building situated within the Styal Conservation Area, Norcliffe Hall is an important local example of early Victorian architecture.

Recently having undergone a complete restoration, Tradewoods are delighted to have supplied over 1000m² of flooring for this important project: Norcliffe’s new underfloor heating system has been covered with Tradewoods Super 6 engineered hardwood flooring unfinished rustic French Oak 21 x 180mm. The featured apartment first received a coat of mahogany oil to add a deep, period look to the floor, this mahogany oil was then over-coated with two coats of clear oil to finish. A stunning restoration.

Health and safety in the workplace is becoming more and more important.  Regulations for businesses to adhere to and implement have been strongly in the past 10 years. In 1999 The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations were introduced to set out to employers their responsibilities of health and safety in the workplace. Since then, employers have had to carry out risk assessments in the workplace by either an in house health and safety officer or a professional risk assessment consultant. The risk assessment identifies any problems, risks and deficiencies in the workplace from anything from fire extinguishers and fire drills to toxic fumes and potential accident hot spots. This act provides guidance, codes of practice and regulations for the employer to carry out the risk assessment as quickly and as easily as possible.

Slipping over on floors or down stairs are common forms of accidents in the workplace. These can result in serious injury. Prevention of such accidents is very easy and it is not just in industrial workshops and factories that slipping over can occur. Offices are as dangerous if the right prevention techniques and processes are not implemented. Stairs, storage areas, kitchens and corridors can be potential slipping areas.

A very easy way to help to prevent such accidents is by using anti slip or non slip tape on floors and stairs. These tapes come in various different sizes, forms and shapes each specifically manufactured for a particular purpose ensuring maximum protection. Older buildings for example are areas where health and safety issues tend not to be as evident especially on an old, uneven staircase. Non slip and anti slip tapes are easy to apply on such surfaces.
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