Norguard Industries Inc. has created a new line of fall protection safety products.
“We are now 100 per cent fall protection,” said Norm Desjardins, founder and president of the Sudbury-based company. “We can offer the full gamut to our clients,” positioning Norguard on the same playing field as its major competitors.
Desjardins is showcasing four new products under the Norguard Eagle brand. They consist of vertical and horizontal lifelines, vertical rigid rail systems, including an innovative all-in-one ladder safety device, handrail and guardrail systems and a swivel anchor.
Norguard’s full line of safety harnesses, miners’ belts, lanyards, and other “soft products” are available through its distributor network across Canada and the United States. In Sudbury, Norguard products are sold at Clarke Phillips Safety Supply, Superior Safety, Guillevin International, Weber Supply, CTF Supply and Battlefield Equipment.
Desjardins claims to be the only Canadian-owned fall protection manufacturer. His 15 years of management experience at Denison Mines in Elliot Lake inspired him to introduce the safety harness fall-arrest system into local mines.
Lack of protection
“When I first started going out to clients, I noticed here in Northern Ontario that we were lacking a lot of protection for workers,” he said. “They were wearing safety belts when working at heights. A harness was a rare thing to see.”
As the value of full-body harnesses became more widely known, sales took off.
Over the years, Desjardins has designed and patented fall protection products to assist miners working at heights, in confined spaces and in rescue operations. He has also developed a training, testing, repair and certification facility, and in 2004, received ISO 9001:2000 certification.
Newly-hired Joanne Lafrance Musico, corporate director of sales and marketing, will be actively promoting the new product line, which completes the company’s line of fall protection equipment. All applicable products are certified by the Canadian Standards Association and meet ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards.
The Norguard Eagle line is designed to provide100 per cent protection with built in flexibility, creating greater ease of use, said Lafrance Musico.
The vertical and horizontal lifelines attach to floors, walls or ceilings, and curve around corners. The rigid rails in the system can be center- or side-mounted for any application. They are designed to curve around corners or over obstructions. The travellers allow for seamless movement around obstacles, avoiding the need to detach. They are also engineered to transfer through intermediate brackets smoothly, without hang ups, allowing greater ease of movement for the worker.
The Norguard Eagle all-in-one ladder safety device is a new design for the company. It features a vertical rigid rail safety system with triangular rungs that can be added to the post itself as needed. It is easily mounted to a wall or structure made of brick, wood, steel, or concrete.
“It is engineered to allow you to work your way down or up, but as soon as there is a fall, it will lock immediately,” said Desjardins.
Guard rail system
The third item in the new line is the hand and guard rail system. Designed to meet any building code, the system can be bolted on with fittings. No welding is required, saving money and time. The system can be used for any application, reused, disassembled and reconfigured if necessary. The rails can be used with galvanized steel, aluminum, stainless steel or black iron pipe.
The stainless steel swivel anchorage has been on the market for about a year, and has been tested and approved in Sudbury mines. It can be installed in any area that provides a solid mount.
Desjardins explains that some anchorages can be installed incorrectly, but this one cannot. It only requires a solid structure to mount it. “It can be installed on the side, top, or floor and there is no worry about a side load or bad connection because the unit rotates.”
He prefers using stainless steel on 70 per cent of the hard goods, because it wears better, resists corrosion and lasts longer.
Norguard’s market is largely North American, with 20 to 25 per cent in the U.S. The Northern Ontario market accounts for only 20 per cent its sales, but Desjardins hopes its broader product line will help create a stronger foothold in the region.
As the company’s 30 employees move forward with the new line, they will also be increasing their 11,000 square foot workspace to 14,000-square feet to accommodate future growth.
