Reducing costs and safety risks on site are two of the major concerns of construction companies. Vital Engineering’s new Vitaclamp grating clamp has been heralded by the construction industry as providing a high quality solution to these issues.

Over the past 70 years, Boksburg-based ISO 9001 company Vital Engineering and Angus McLeod has developed a wide range of stair treads, grating, expanded metals and handrails geared towards enhancing both productivity and safety for its extensive customer base in a number of industries.
“The feedback we have received on our patented Vitaclamp has been very reassuring,” says Dodds Pringle, MD of Vital Engineering and Angus McLeod. “A number of construction companies have reported substantial cost savings due to the fact that the grating can now be fixed on the walking surface as opposed to its underside, as is the case with other clamping mechanisms.”

These typically hidden costs that are not easily identified become apparent at the end of the installation cycle, when time and installation cost comparisons are made against previous contracts where the Vitaclamp has not been used.

“Various substandard copies have been manufactured by others, but do not have the performance characteristics of the patentend Vitaclamp. These copies are easily identified as we take pride in our products and brand each item to enable the client to ensure they are receiving the goods they have specified”.

The rising cost of purchasing or hiring scaffolding has forced contractors who install grating to seek innovative and less expensive methods of undertaking these functions. Pringle explains that the Vitaclamp effectively eliminates the use of scaffolding when site staff need to attach clamps to the grating. “This not only saves unnecessary outlay on scaffolding for the contractor, but also reduces the risk of injury to staff working at height.”
The plight of workers undertaking jobs at height has been highlighted recently and the Department of Labour (DoL) is taking a zero tolerance approach to tardiness on the part of employers who thumb their noses at the OHS regulations promulgated by the DoL. Excuses for non-compliance range from alleged ignorance of the Act to financial constraints. “Now, however, by eliminating the risks involved with using incorrectly erected scaffolding or workers not being issued with the correct safety equipment for working at height, the Vitaclamp removes one element from the equation,” says Pringle.
Another tangible benefit of using the Vitaclamp is that it takes only a few seconds, using properly selected tools, to fix the grating with the Vitaclamp. In addition, the Nyloc nut ensures that the fixing remains firmly in place. “The beauty of this system is that the Vitaclamp has been designed in a manner that allows it to be removed at a later date for maintenance or adjustment, and then reused without the need for replacement. This makes it a flexible and cost-effective alternative for cost- and safety-conscious companies,” Pringle concludes.

 

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