Face masks are one of the best weapons in the daily fight against COVID-19, which is why BBF Safety Group is donating 400,000 Nikki reusable filtered masks to the valuee of R4,4 million to those who need them most

As the economy began to open up after the hard lockdown experienced in April and May, companies were faced with a new challenge – keeping their employees safe. In order to ensure that operations continued at as full capacity as possible to mitigate job losses, health and safety quickly became the focus.

Mere months ago, South Africans had no idea that personal protection equipment (PPE) would be essential to daily life. Now, the issue of which mask to use has become one of the most pressing daily decisions for most people – and while there are hundreds of different designs and colours to choose from, it’s important to ensure that the mask you don is actually going to do the job. Quite quickly we have realised that not all masks are made equal.

In May 2020, with the support of their SMME network and the pressure the world faced with trying to curb the spread of the virus, BBF Safety Group developed a locally manufactured, reusable, filtered mask for general use that was in compliance with WHO recommendations.

Silvio Ceriani – Group CEO, BBF Safety Group, says, “We know budgets are tight right now, but it’s imperative that employees feel safe to return to work because it’s the only way we’ll be able to keep the economy going. This is why we made a decision to donate 400,000 Nikki reusable filtered masks, along with an extra filter, for distribution with our fastest-moving lines of BOVA, Lemaitre and Frams safety footwear.”

The highly effective Nikki masks have been placed inside thousands of pairs of BOVA Multi, BOVA Adapt, BOVA Radical, BOVA Maverick, Lemaitre Maxeco, Lemaitre Robust, and the newly launched Frams Econo-tough boot.

Peter Gerbrands, Group Marketing Manager, BBF Safety Group, says, “By distributing the 400,000 free masks inside our fastest moving lines of footwear, we can ensure that the men and women who are vital to keeping the economy will be given the best protection, quickly.”

“We are all in this together and as a company, we feel it necessary to give back to the communities who will greatly benefit from effective Personal Protective Equipment. This is about more than just getting a product out there, it’s about protecting people and keeping industry going so that we as a country can protect each other and out economy ,” adds Silvio Ceriani.