GripHero does the double at the 2021 APEA Awards, winning both health and safety, and environmental protection titles
UK-based GripHero Ltd, the maker of the world’s only static-safe glove and fuel-nozzle mounted dispensers, has succeeded in winning two major titles at the prestigious Association for Petroleum and Explosives Administration (APEA) 2021 Awards.
Honouring and celebrating the latest products and most innovative services available on the forecourt and in the petroleum market, GripHero’s success is a huge endorsement for the Devon-based business which launched in 2018. Today, GripHero supplies hand-protection internationally to forecourts that serve over 500 million drivers each year.
Winning both the Health and Safety Performance category, and Environmental Protection and Sustainability Award, the double success follows on from a brace of titles the last time the APEA awards were held in 2019; when GripHero won both the Environmental Protection and Improvement Award, and the Innovation Award.
This year, the APEA Health and Safety Performance Award was presented to GripHero in recognition of the decision to provide its hand-protection ‘glove’ dispensers free to forecourts across the globe in the battle against Covid-19. This resulted in 50,000 free-of-charge units being sent worldwide, providing best-practice hand-protection to the forecourt front line at a point when it was needed most.
Taken up by forecourts on five continents, the GripHero ‘lockdown initiative’ enabled fuel stations internationally to provide motorist with hand-protection dispensers exactly where they needed it, on-the-nozzle itself. This allowed users to withdraw and wear a ‘glove’ before coming into contact with any forecourt equipment; providing a physical barrier between their hand and surfaces touched by hundreds of other drivers, including fuel pump handles, which have been proven to be over 11,000 times dirtier than toilet seats.
Breaking the chain of transmission at the point of contact, GripHero played a key part in protecting the health and wellbeing of forecourt customers throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
GripHero was also recognised for its efforts to dramatically reduce CO2 and single-use plastic on the forecourt, through the launch of its 100% recycled plastic gloves.
The Environmental Protection and Sustainability Award highlighted the success of GripHero’s R100 glove cartridges, which are made from 100% ‘open loop’ recycled plastics. Combined with GripHero’s single item dispenser, which ends unnecessary waste and the potential for hand-protection blow-out into the environment, GripHero has succeeded in cutting CO2 by 94% compared to conventional gloves.
Due to GripHero’s unique design and zero-waste manufacturing techniques, more than 70 million additional standard gloves have been prevented from entering the environment, saving over 120 tonnes of unnecessary plastic, 25 tonnes of unnecessary cardboard packaging and 400 tonnes of CO2 from entering the global Carbon Footprint.
This ‘eco-option’ is now playing a key part in enabling forecourts to enhance their green credentials, while significantly cutting the volume of single-use plastics used on forecourts.
Commenting on GripHero’s success Oli Yeo, inventor and managing director of GripHero, said: “The latest APEA awards are a huge endorsement of our constant drive to help forecourts protect their customers and the environment. They are the greatest recognition in the industry.
“When the global pandemic emerged, we knew we had a duty to play our part in preventing the spread of Covid-19 at the fuel pump. Providing our dispensers at no cost was the right thing to do and resulted in forecourts protecting over 60 million additional drivers at the exact point of contact with the fuel nozzle.
“Seeing both large networks and independent sites upgrading and doing what we all know is right for both the public and the environment was hugely encouraging. It now sets the mark for others to follow.”
Oli Yeo added: “Since 2018 we have relentlessly worked to meet the constantly changing demands of international forecourts and legislation, putting health, safety and the environment at the core of everything we do.
“We strive to enable forecourts to be both safe and successful, creating a symbiotic relationship between fuel stations and their customers who feel protected, stay loyal and make regular in-store purchases. Importantly, we do this in a way that enables forecourts to protect individuals from viruses, biohazards, chemicals, carcinogens and diseases without compromising the environment, allowing businesses to reduce their carbon emissions and meet ‘COP26’ goals, which are now at the very top of the climate change agenda.”
Before GripHero came to market, the factor preventing hand-protection being dispensed in the fuel zone was the potential for vapour ignition caused by a static charge when a glove was withdrawn from a pack.
Through GripHero’s innovative use of ATEX-Certified static-safe material, all chance of such ignition is removed, while also blocking any static spark between drivers and fuel equipment. This enables GripHero’s dispensers to be placed on the fuel nozzle itself or on flat surfaces in the fuelling zone. No other hand-protection alternative is permitted in the fuelling zone in the same way.
Always innovating, GripHero has just announced its latest product breakthrough with the launch of the all-new GripHero 2; its smallest-ever, most efficient glove dispenser, which boasts 10% more advertising space than previous models.
20% smaller overall, the new dispenser is a ground-up redesign, taking on board feedback from the industry and customers to create a sleeker, universally compatible and faster refill solution for global fuel-nozzles, reducing glove-refill replacement times by 90%. The brand-new dispenser design is also available as a surface-mounted unit for use on EV chargers, canopy stanchions and applications beyond the forecourt.
To order new GripHero 2 dispensers, call 01837 811 035, email info@griphero.com or visit www.griphero.com
