Checkmate has emerged as the winner of the LEEA Innovation Award for Best Product at LiftEx 2014, the annual trade exhibition for the overhead lifting industry that was co-located at the Safety and Health Expo, ExCel London, June 17th-19th. The company’s Vantage VI harness and Checkfall Lanyard ranges, which incorporate a host of novel features that improve fall protection and product durability, secured the top prize for UK-based Checkmate, which specializes in height safety and textile lifting.
New features of the Checkmate products that impressed the judges include ‘wear indicating’ webbing, reflective yarns that are woven into the fibre of the material, fall indicator deployment systems, retractable flexible label covers, Teflon-coated webbing and trapezoidal links.
Announcing the winner, Geoff Holden, chief executive for LEEA, said: “The innovations demonstrated by Checkmate are genuinely new ideas that help users and inspectors identify when products should be removed from service, and also increase their working life.”
Oliver Auston, managing director of Checkmate, commented: “With Vantage VI a barrage of new ideas from our entire design team integrated seamlessly into brilliant new products. We are lucky to have such talented individuals with fresh ideas and the appetite to push the boundaries of technology with each product release.”
Established in 1944, LEEA has over 740 member companies worldwide and campaigns vigorously for higher standards of safety and professionalism within the overhead lifting industry. Key services provided include training, accreditation and expert technical advice. Member companies are involved in the design, manufacture, hire, repair, refurbishment, test, examination, verification and use of lifting equipment. Applicants are subject to an initial technical audit before full membership is granted, and then to a continuing programme of assessments. For large scale users of overhead lifting equipment, associate membership provides benefits such as access to technical information and training, without the need for auditing. Further details on the work of LEEA, and a full list of members, is available atwww.leeaint.com
