Safety benefits of Tuff Step

Safe access between different elevations is a serious and ongoing problem in construction. This can be either on a slope or between different floors in new construction. Traditionally contractors will build wooden stair systems to solve this, but these are less than safe when wet or icy, and there is also the problem of disposal once the project is complete.

Tuff Step provides a safe and cost effective alternative, especially when labour is included in the comparison. Made from aluminum and polypropylene plastic, Tuff Step is lightweight, easily configures to any slope between 0 and 60 degrees, and sheds snow, ice and mud. Tuff Step will normally provide safe footing in just about any condition.

A major contractor recently concluded that Tuff Step is often more economical to use than custom built access. Plus it can be reused on other projects and reconfigured to suit different needs.

When used on sloping ground Tuff Step sections can be joined together for just about any length needed. Sections can be secured to the ground, or, if that is not possible (i.e. on concrete), sections can be joined together and the entire assembly can be secured at the top. Tuff Step can be used with no handrails, handrails on both sides, or just on one side.

The Tuff Step family includes a system designed specifically for free standing stairs between different elevations in construction. Need a movable temporary stair system between stories under construction? No problem. This lightweight and reusable system will provide safe access for construction.

When contractors are looking for safe, cost effective, reusable access between different elevations in construction, Tuff Step is the way to go.

Introducing the Sprinter, as a rapid response, specialty fire truck

Fire trucks come in all shapes and sizes. Whichever size fire truck is needed, a couple of things are for certain. There will never be enough room. There will never be enough money, which seems sure to only get worse.

So its worth taking a look at what other firefighters are doing.

One big surprise is the use of alternatives to the ‘traditional’ fire truck when looking at specialty fire trucks and rapid response vehicles. The enclosed box van, such as the Sprinter, is getting a surprising amount of use, as opposed to the more special body fire truck.

These vehicles come with a wide variety of options, lengths, heights and configurations, which makes them easy to configure for a specialty fire truck. They tend to be more economical. A Sprinter fire truck can be easily insulated, provides weather protection for equipment and carries a surprising amount of knockdown power when equipped with C.A.F.S. It can be ideal for specialty fire services such as heliports, light industrial, and
as an urban first responder. Some national fire authorities in other parts of the world have mandated that the first response truck should be just such a unit. In Europe the Sprinter is used both as an ambulance (it is winning recognition here in North America for that as well) and as a fire truck.

Take for example fire protection at a heliport. A Sprinter is more than capable of carrying the equipment needed. The C.A.F.S. can be a skid, the dry chemical easy to mount and the tools either attached to wall panels or mounted on a roll out. The unit can carry two to four fire fighters. All that in a standard, economical package that needs little customization. And the same qualities make it well worth looking at as a small first
response fire truck.

These are challenging times economically and they look to stay with us for a while. So it only makes sense to look at something like a Sprinter fire truck. Either as a rapid response unit or as a specialty fire truck, it offers a lot in an affordable package.

Tuff Built Products Restricted Space Fall Arrest Systems

Aircraft hangers, flexible manufacturing facilities, railroad service facilities, truck loading areas, maintenance shops, mine equipment service bays; what do they all have in common?

Crowded floor plans, frequently varying work locations, overhead cranes, and a need for fall protection!

So often safe fall protection practices are sacrificed to the real world realities of space, interference with work practices, perceived efficiency, and unfortunately cost.

Tuff Built Products Inc. is changing all that with a revolutionary new series of fall protection structures that provide almost limitless flexibility that blends into the workplace.

Introducing the Pro-9 Series of Restricted Space Fall Arrest Structures, fall protection featuring various combinations of davit arm options, horizontal rail and trolley systems, and single-point anchors put overhead attachment points where your job needs them.

Permanently installed bases predictably place equipment where it’s needed in areas of repetitive activity, while counterweighted portable supports maximize the utilization of your capital investment when work flow changes on an ongoing basis.

Thin section concrete floors unable to support traditional cantilever systems provide more than adequate strength to install the large footprint floor mount bases, while ballasted supports require no costly installation at all.

Used with approved Self Retracting Lifelines (SRL’s), the Patent Pending overload protected design provides ANSI and OSHA compliant anchor points that visually display overloading due to misuse or impact without compromising post-fall support or integrity of the structure.

These products are currently in use by major military contractors, petroleum processing facilities, and other progressive companies who have been quick to recognize the benefit of this unique approach to integrated fall protection.

Please contact Tuff Built Products Inc. for further information and the name of the dealer nearest you.

See you at the National Safety Congress in Philadelphia, October 31 –November 2, 2011.

Speed is the Key

Fire Departments often face a Catch-22 situation. The faster a response team can get to a fire, the easier it likely will be to extinguish it. However, experience and safety dictate a certain amount of equipment be available, possibly slowing the response. This is especially true in a rural, wildland or volunteer situation.

One widely used solution is the rapid response vehicle, a light truck intended to be ‘first out the hall’ with enough crew, equipment and fire fighting capability to either extinguish a small fire or contain a larger fire until a more weighted response can arrive. Rapid response trucks are always a compromise between fire fighting capability and speed.

The Hummer deserves a serious look for rapid response, especially for its speed and off road capability. H1 Hummers are already used in wildland, but general rapid response use has been limited, especially for the Hummer H2. I believe this is a mistake. There are very few vehicles that can match the Hummer for all round travel capability. This is especially true when it is matched with a Compressed Air Foam System (C.A.F.S.) to increase its knockdown capability. A C.A.F.S. Hummer H2 can be equipped with at least 160 US gallons of water and rapidly deploy the knockdown power of a much larger truck. It would be well worth it for any rural or volunteer department to take a look at the Hummer, especially if wildland fire fighting is required.

Working Safe at Height just got Easier

Fall protection has made many advances on the last ten years. But there are still many tasks that are very difficult to provide economical fall protection for, especially when they are located in the field away from central depots or terminals.  In field service of heavy equipment, working on flat deck trailers, aircraft maintenance and snow removal are just a few of them. While there are some fall protection systems that can be of service, they tend to be awkward to use, require pre-positioning or mechanical assistance like a large forklift, or be uneconomical for dispersed use. In many cases working safely at height continues to pose challenges to the fall protection designer.

Tuff Built Products Inc. designed the Sky-X-Stand to meet these fall protection needs, and many more as well.  Sky-X-Stand is a simple, lightweight and portable fall arrest anchor that can be easily set up and maneuvered in the field.  Sky-X-Stand systems can provide fall protection for one or two workers, depending upon the model.  Using our lightweight custom aluminum extrusions and patent pending ‘Tuff-Klik’ connections, Sky-X-Stand fall protection anchors offer an exciting alternative. 

Sky-X-Stand is designed with a series of nesting extrusions that transport in a collapsed position, then are pulled out to the necessary length and are automatically connected together by ‘Tuff-Klik’. It has a fall protection rated anchor at the top. Sky-X-Stand can then be raised in position and secured into a number of different bases, either permanent or portable.  Portable bases would include a counterweighted trailer, a mobile base, or even common models of pick up trucks. As mentioned previously Sky-X-Stand fall [protection systems can come with either one or two anchors; or, they can even have a horizontal rail and anchor trolley(s) to extend the safe working area.

Anyway you look at it Sky-X-Stand fall protection by Tuff Built Products offers an exciting new way to work safely at height. Call today and learn more about how Sky-X-Stand can help you .