NHS Trusts, utility companies, police forces and transport operators are among those to have stockpiled specialist shoe traction devices in readiness for icy weather.
Algeos, the distributor of leading devices, Yaktrax and Spikys, has signed contracts including Scot Rail and heavy building materials supplier Hanson UK, along with a number of leading courier and logistics companies via the UK’s largest corporatewear supplier Dimensions Clothing.
Max Sheridan, Sales Director at Algeos, said: "Employers have a duty of care to protect their employees from slips and falls in the course of carrying out their duties.
"This duty of care covers the place of work itself, external areas across which employees must travel to get to and from work, and protecting workers who need to walk on icy pavements in order to carry out their duties.
"Certain workers are naturally more at risk than others and include postal and courier workers, utilities staff, the emergency services, midwives and care workers.
"The biggest problem in the UK is not the snow, but black ice which can make some employees particularly vulnerable because they are often out and about before the sun comes up.”
Other organisations to use Algeos’ products include BT, Scottish Power and Merseyside Police.
Yaktrax – named after the Tibetan yak – are lightweight ice grips worn over regular shoes and boots giving the same grip you would expect on dry surfaces. Yaktrax’s scientifically engineered horizontal and vertical coils place hundreds of biting edges in direct contact with the ice beneath a person’s feet.
Spikys are rubber straps that fit over shoes or boots and are manufactured from 76 per cent natural rubber and 24 per cent high-grade synthetic rubber, enabling them to stretch to 6.5 times their original length.
Algeos is the global distribution arm of ALG International Holdings, which has its head office in Liverpool.
Fast growing ALG now distributes its medical and footwear products to more than 70 countries through its offices in the UK, Australia, United States and United Arab Emirates.
