Keeping staff safe and healthy is a priority for the Mosaic Restoration Company, a Northamptonshire based business which specialises in mosaic design, fabrication and restoration.
The company, which has a purpose built workshop in Daventry, has worked at world famous landmarks such as St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey and continues to combine London-based larger projects with private home restoration and major reinstatement mosaic works in public buildings.
Five years ago company owner Gary Bricknell approached McCarthy Environmental – recommended by another business in the sector.
Owner Gary Bricknell explained: “We felt in safe hands from the very start and invested in a large extraction unit for our workshop and studio. We work with glass and ceramic in our cutting room so we needed to ensure dust particles were safely being extracted.
“I am not in the business of ticking health and safety boxes. Investing in these safety measures is about looking after the people I work with, this is far more than just a legal requirement.”
The McCarthy Environmental team now visit the Daventry company every year to service its extraction equipment and the mosaic specialists are now on their way to achieving CHAS, a leading health and safety compliance accreditation.
“We need CHAS to meet building requirements and part of the remit is health and safety, so the support we get from McCarthy is central to this,” said Gary.
Stone, slate, concrete and ceramic businesses are among those that deal with a particularly hazardous type of inhalable dust, called silica, created when the materials are cut, sanded or carved. There is a risk that some of this dust, too fine to see with normal lighting, can be breathed in and cause a range of lung diseases. To maintain a healthy workforce, therefore, dust and fume extraction expertise is essential.