Archive for the 'News' Category

Seat Belt SAFETY ALERT - Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

MHRA Medical Device Alert MDA/2008/037
All Posture/Safety belts fitted to seating, stairlifts, hoists and wheelchairs
It has come Minivator’s attention that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)  has issued a Medical Device Alert regarding the positioning and use of seat belts on a number of assistive aids including stairlifts.
The risk highlighted is that a user may slip, or ‘submarine’ under a seat belt if it is not positioned correctly resulting in a potential injury or fatality. If the user is seated at or around 90° they should be using a belt fixed near to the corner of the seat/base with the belt at approximately 45° to seat base with a snug fit over the pelvis.
This is not the first time concerns about such safety issues have been raised. At Minivator our design team have considered this factor when designing our lifts and as such we are pleased to confirm that all of our stairlifts are designed to allow the correct seat belt positioning as recommend by MHRA. You may wish to satisfy yourself that other suppliers of stairlifts seat belts meet the recommended design.
To view the full alert visit: www.mhra.gov.uk and search the site (top right of webpage) for MDA/2008/037.
The alert was posted on the 5th June 2008.
 

Minivator Shanghai off to a cracking start! - Monday, July 21st, 2008

Associates at Minivator China set off 8000 Fire Crackers to celebrate their successful ISO 9001 Assessment. Fire Crackers are a traditional part of celebration in China: tradition holds they scare off evil spirits and welcome the Gods of Wealth to your door. 8 is a lucky number so the firecrackers were arranged in eight rows for extra luck.
The team out in China has worked hard to set up processes and procedures that are in line with our UK requirements, it is testament to this hard work that they were awarded the standard on their first assessment.
Graham Kemp, Managing Director Minivator China, commented “We have built a dedicated and hardworking team here in Shanghai. At each stage of set up members of the UK team have come out to offer support as required to ensure that our working practices dove tail with what’s going on at head office.
 

Gaining ISO9001 at our first pass is fantastic and is something that we are very proud off.”
 

“People were sceptical when we announced that we were looking to the Far East for manufacture. In reality the effect on our UK business can only be seen as positive.” said Ian Burrows, Operations Director “Our sales have continued to increase, we have opened another manufacturing unit in the UK, our team of installation engineers has expanded and our apprenticeship programme continues to grow.”
 

Having a base in China will also help with the goal of offering great service when it comes to eSurvey. We now have an image processing facility which means that photogrammetry pictures can be processed overnight (GMT timings) thereby speeding up the drawing process for curved stairlifts.
 

To see eSurvey in action visit: www.stairliftsurvey.co.uk