Following its recent call for industry unity amidst the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) silica dust crackdown, Carysil has taken its commitment a step further by officially joining the Worktop Fabricators Federation (WFF). The leading kitchen surfaces manufacturer will work hand-in-hand with the WFF to champion workplace health, promote rigorous safety standards and encourage wider industry adoption of low-and-no-silica materials.
Carysil’s decision to sponsor the WFF follows the launch of its highly acclaimed press campaign highlighting its existing silica-free solid surfaces (Minerva, Metis, and Mariz) and its innovative, Cristobalite-free Aravalli sintered stone. By aligning with the UK’s premier trade body for surface fabrication, Carysil aims to amplify the message that beautiful design must never come at the cost of a worker’s health.
The WFF has been at the absolute forefront of protecting the trade, most notably through the introduction of its landmark WFF Quality Mark, an industry-first accreditation developed alongside the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) to independently verify safe, dust-controlled fabrication environments.
As a new partner, Carysil will leverage its position as a major industry supplier to advocate for these stringent safety assessments, actively encouraging retailers, specifiers and fabricators across the UK to engage with the WFF’s resources, health surveillance programs and educational initiatives.
“Joining the WFF is the natural next step in our mission to make the kitchen and bathroom industry a fundamentally safer place to work,” says Marcus Smyth, CEO at Carysil. “We have already proved through our product engineering that hazardous materials can be designed out of the equation. By joining forces with the WFF, we want to help lead a cultural shift. We are stronger together and we want to use this partnership to get the safety message heard in every showroom and workshop in the country.”
While Carysil’s materials are specifically designed to minimize or entirely eliminate crystalline silica risks, the brand continues to actively enforce and support the WFF’s strict guidelines on wet-cutting and water-suppression techniques during fabrication.
Operations Officer at WFF, Nigel Fletcher added “With their silica-free ranges and a brand new Cristobailite-free material coming to market, Carysil are demonstrating the exact kind of proactive responsibility our industry needs right now, so we are delighted to have them on board”.
Fletcher continues, “The Federation’s core aim has always been to promote best practices and professionalism across the sector. That requires collaboration between fabricators and forward-thinking suppliers such as Carysil. By combining a product portfolio inherently free from aggressive silica variants with the WFF’s operational best practices, Carysil offers the KBB sector a definitive roadmap for a safer, more sustainable future and together, we can better educate the wider KBB community. Ensuring workforce protection remains top of the agenda”.
An Invitation to the Industry
With the HSE currently executing an intensive regime of site inspections across the UK, Carysil and the WFF are jointly urging businesses that have not yet reviewed their safety protocols or material choices to get involved.
“We want to challenge the wider industry to step up,” continues Smyth. “Our goal is to ensure that every fabricator has access to the right training, the right protective measures and the safest possible materials. We invite our peers across the KBB sector to join us, support the WFF, and ensure that safety is at the forefront of every single product launch and installation.”
For more information on Carysil’s membership with the WFF or to explore their silica-free and Cristobalite-free surface collections, please visit carysil.co.uk or contact 03339 964703.
