Safety first: Forterra's full laundry service with phs Besafe

phs Besafe is working with Forterra, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of clay and concrete building products, to provide a full laundry and locker service to its 1,600 employees across 15 different manufacturing locations across the UK.

Forterra prides itself on the safety of its employees, and the provision and care of their PPE is paramount in the successful performance of its manufacturing sites.

As the UK’s leading commercial laundry service provider, phs Besafe uses cutting edge laundry technology and a carefully managed service to ensure Forterra’s employees always have access to clean and safe PPE as soon as they need them.

Working closely with a third-party PPE provider, phs Besafe collects soiled workwear from each of Forterra’s sites and delivers them back to staff lockers freshly laundered and ready to be worn again within seven days.

All collected workwear is given a unique barcode reference, including information on the garment’s wearer. This system ensures every garment can be tracked, located and referenced in detailed management service reports.

Each garment is carefully inspected during the laundry service to look for any signs of wear and tear and any necessary repairs, which will be made before returning it to its owner. A replacement garment will be sourced if it is beyond repair to ensure safety at all times.

phs Besafe offers a unique, low energy industrial washing process that hygienically and safely cleans garments using eco-friendly products, helping to prolong garments’ lives whilst retaining their crucial safety properties.

To dry garments, Besafe uses its own innovative drying system known as Drysafe. Drysafe uses infrared sensors to constantly monitor the moisture levels in the garments and the core temperature of the drum and halves the time it takes to dry garments. It ensures a constant drying temperature and an automatic stop once the garment is dry; halving the time the machine needs to run, which saves energy and prolongs the life of the garment.

As part of the service, phs Besafe also provides updates to Forterra on each garment, including any repairs, garment history and its expected lifespan.

Darren Robinson, Buyer at Forterra, said: “The safety of our employees, who work in a space with large machinery and large vehicles, is our number one objective. We make sure that key PPE garments are available as an employee needs them. The reliable service that phs Besafe provides us with ensures that happens. It also helps to reduce missing items and over-ordering by offering an economical repair service on a range of different types of garments.

“The brilliant service we have has helped staff morale and given us confidence in phs Besafe as a trusted supplier. We’d like to give a special thanks to Diane Priest and Bernadette Browne for managing our account. We look forward to the on-going relationship between our two businesses.”