WATERLOO, ONT., Nov. 17, 2014: Swenco Limited, a manufacturer of protective footwear products in Waterloo, Ont. — and a Communitech member — has earned Certification Europe (CE) approval for its Steel-Flex Steel Toe Overshoe.
It is a significant milestone in the company’s 52-year history.
“This means we can now sell our overshoe in Europe, which has a huge number of factories and industrial sites,’’ says Matthew Rowlands, Swenco’s assistant general manager. “CE is recognized around the world as a very strong mark of assurance in the occupational health and safety industry.
“Our product exceeds the benchmarks of impact resistance and slip resistance set by that standardization process.”
Made of thermo-plastic rubber, the Steel-Flex overshoe slips easily over street shoes to protect the feet of temporary visitors to manufacturing plants and other industrial settings.
The overshoe incorporates steel toe caps designed and sourced by Swenco specifically for this purpose, similar but thicker and larger than toes found in top-quality safety footwear . The overshoe comes in a range of colour-coded sizes and an ambidextrous shape, saving users and visitors the trouble of finding a right and left foot match. It is waterproof and resistant to chemicals and acids.
Swenco spent a year getting CE approval after demonstrating the overshoe at a trade show in Europe in 2013. The product already bears the CSA (Canadian Standards Association) seal.
More than two million manufacturing enterprises operate in the European Union, according to information collected by Eurostat. Rowlands says Swenco expects the overshoe will draw attention to the company and its range of products to keep workers safely on their feet.
“It builds awareness,” he says. “We want to grow our business in Europe, and CE approval gives both our product, and more importantly our company, that critical credibility that will lead to more opportunities and more jobs here in Canada.”
About Swenco Limited:
For more than 50 years, Swenco Limited has been North America’s largest manufacturer and most trusted supplier of engineered safety components used in most recognized brands of safety footwear, including Honeywell, Kodiak, Timberland, Dakota, Terra, STC, Red Wing, Baffin and many others.
Contact:
Matthew Rowlands,
519-884-7400, Ext. 102,
mrowlands@swencolimited.com
