Why choose one provider (for your loading arm and access equipment needs)?

Happy 2016! As we hurtle into another, what looks like, a busy year for Loadtec Engineered Systems, sometimes it is good for us to take a step back and think about why we are in the business we are in and why it is booming. So, let’s consider why it is so important for a terminal or plant to choose one provider for their loading arm and access equipment needs.

In 2014/15, the Health and Safety Executive in the UK reported this data about injuries in the workplace:

• Over half the fatal injuries to workers were of three kinds: falls from height; being struck by a vehicle and being struck by a moving object (RIDDOR – Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013);
• Falls and slips & trips, combined, account for more than a third (36%) of employee injuries. They accounted for nearly six in ten specified injuries (59%) and almost three in ten (29%) over-seven-day injuries to employees (RIDDOR);
• Handling was the most frequent cause of over-seven-day injury (RIDDOR);
• An estimated 2.1 million working days were lost due to handling injuries and slips & trips (LFS – Labour Force Survey).

Therefore, it is extremely important as a terminal, plant or depot where incidents, like the above named are likely to happen, that you develop an industrial safety plan to help prevent injuries and fatalities, to avoid potential workplace liability.

When making workplace safety a priority, it is important both your loading arm and access equipment functions cohesively as a whole. Loading and safety equipment purchased from different vendors might not always integrate as intended to provide foolproof operations. Additionally, if something does fail, whose liability is it? That will not always be clear as it could be the combination that causes the issue in the first place.

Loadtec is one of the few providers working in the area of bulk liquid transfer in Europe that designs and manufactures both access equipment and loading arms. To minimise the risk of workplace accidents, these two moving pieces of equipment have to be engineered in a way to work together without interference.

When you contact a single provider for your safety and liquid transfer solutions, you will be able to reach out to one contact for design, customisation, integration and ongoing support. When maintenance or spares are required, that same contact will provide your needs quickly and cost effectively.

Additionally, your vendor has to take responsibility for the systems working safely and efficiently on the whole. If you purchase the parts separately, you have no guarantee the different parts will function well together and if there is a problem, whose fault is it? An integrated solutions company like Loadtec will be able to provide a completely integrated safety and loading system.

However, even when companies provide both loading arms and safety access systems, there are no guarantee they can do the job well. Many companies simply do not have the resources or knowledge to be able to customise or redesign their loading arms or safety equipment. If the scope of the project changes and your equipment design needs to reflect that, your provider should be able to adjust the equipment accordingly depending how they work together but without compromising on the safety aspect. Loadtec has almost 20 years of working in the industry safely and with our own manufacturing facility now in Italy, our team has the valuable knowledge and expertise to be able to make such adjustments and changes to equipment while making sure your operator’s safety is never at risk.

By purchasing your integrated loading arm and safety equipment from a single vendor like Loadtec, you minimise the risk of losing money on incompatible equipment or compromising on your worker safety. Don’t forget our motto: “Your safety. Our mission. “ We live and breathe by it!