Safety Systems Technology has announced that it has divested itself from TÜV SÜD and will once again operate as an independent company. The company was acquired by TÜV in 2010 alongside Laidler Associates and has been operating within that environment since.
 
Speaking about the major reasons for reverting to its independent status, Mark Smailes, managing director of Safety Systems Technology (SST) said, “We are a specialist machinery safety business with an established history. It’s important though that we are clearly seen as independent from those businesses which conduct the assessment and certification work to avoid any conflict of interest. The end customer needs to be assured that the work being carried out is firstly necessary and secondly it ensures compliance.”
 
Despite having reverted to its original independent status SST customers will find the transition seamless. All current and forthcoming contracts will be in place and all of the staff have transferred to the newly established business which is headquartered in Halifax. TÜV SÜD and SST will continue to work closely together and provide customers with an integrated machinery safety solution when required.
 
One of the advantages of operating as a stand-alone business, Mark Smailes believes, is that SST will be more flexible and able to respond to customer needs in a rapid timeframe, which sometimes can be a challenge as part of a larger organisation. However, while SST is smaller compared to its former owner it is still able to deliver cost-effective and practical machinery safety services on a global basis, with projects currently being completed in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
 
“It’s an interesting time for us to become independent again,” commented Mark Smailes, “we will continue to work with some of the biggest names in industry and lately we have been seeing a great deal of work coming from the engineering sector with machine tool upgrades being particularly busy. I think this is a good sign for the UK manufacturing economy as it indicates that businesses have a certain amount of capital to invest and that they are expecting their machines to be heavily utilised in the near future.”
 
Safety Systems Technology can be seen at a number of forthcoming trade exhibitions and conferences.