Safety covered

5475 Saint-Gobain PAM UK says it has developed the Opt-Emax, a range of one-man operable access covers, in response to health and safety concerns over a perceived increase in accidents occurring from drainage operatives lifting heavy access covers.

Through an innovative design, each triangular cover section is independently hinged, said to considerably reduce required effort when lifting compared with traditional access covers. Once opened, the hinge blocks at 900, preventing accidental closure.

Paul Thompson, marketing manager of municipal castings at Saint-Gobain PAM UK, said: “Our high performance Opt-Emax product provides an assured level of safety for those who need to gain access to below ground services for inspection or maintenance purposes. Our ongoing commitment to delivering assured levels of safety has led to the development of a product that is able to cope with the day-to-day operations that personnel have to undertake, delivering a solution that has the operator at the heart of its design.”

Thompson said Opt-Emax is kitemarked to EN124 and fully compliant with the additional requirements of HA 104/09, SFA and CESWI.

“The product also includes enhanced security benefits, protecting against theft with an innovative locking system,” added Thompson. “Opt-Emax features a ‘master’ cover section that has to be unlocked before the remaining sections will open sequentially. It has also been developed so the entire unit can be protected with just one optional locking kit, which can be fitted retrospectively should additional security or anti-theft capability be required.

Saint-Gobain PAM UK is adding a further three new products to its current Opt-Emax range. The range includes clear opening options extending from 600x450 to 2250x750, plus GripTop anti-skid options for key sizes.