Kimberly Access invests in AFI's Sanctuary Zone device

UK access rental company Kimberly Access is buying 50 of the AFI-developed Sanctuary Zone anti-entrapment devices. Kimberly said it considered developing its own solution but was impressed by AFI's solution.

Kimberly's group operations director Alex Lowe said: "When we looked into Sanctuary Zone we saw that a great deal of thought had gone into its development.

"It is a robust tried and tested device that is easy to install and will fit onto our boom lifts without us having to make the time-consuming adjustments that would have been necessary with electronic anti-crushing devices."

Mr Lowe said Kimberly was impressed that AFI had made the product available to the entire industry; "This is a very mature attitude and I wish other companies could be as open as this because there should be no barriers to safety."

The company will make Sanctuary Zone available to its customers from its seven UK depots. The safety device comes in flat pack format and takes just 20 minutes to assemble and can then be fitted to a boom lift "within a few minutes".

Ray Ledger, chairman of Kimberly, said the decision to commit to a major competitor's system "not only reflects the credibility of the AFI system but also an adult and 'ego less' approach to sensible decision making - a trait much lacking when it comes to inter-company cooperation in the access sector."

Sanctuary Zone, which AFI developed with input from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), Terex AWP and Haulotte Group, is fully adjustable, CE approved and can be fitted "on all major manufacturers' machines".

The Sanctuary Zone is just one of several ant-entrapment systems launched onto the UK market in recent years. Niftylift started the trend with its SiOPS system, and that was then followed by other systems from Nationwide Platforms, AFI and JLG Industries.

• Anti-entrapment systems will be the one of the topics covered at the Europlatform conference in Edinburgh on 20 September this year. See www.europlatform.info for the programme details.