UK Safety Expert Arco Wins £53m Contract to Supply PPE to Scotland's Health and Social Care

The UK's leading health and safety expert Arco, has won a £53m contract for the supply of 232 million surgical masks, 6 million FFP3 respirator masks and 2 million visors over a one-year period to Scotland's Health and Social Care. Working partnership with Scottish Manufacturer Alpha Solway, the essential protective equipment will be manufactured locally and will not be dependent on an overseas supply chain, which could be at risk of the restrictions seen during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

To prepare for any future major incidents and be able to respond quickly, Scotland's Health and Social Care will build stock of over 4m FFP3 respirator masks and 3,000 pallet spaces in Arco's National Distribution Centre, which will be continually turned over to keep products in date and the stock levels maintained.

Arco's recent investment programme in its £30m national distribution centre expansion gave it both the capacity and enhanced customer service requirements to fulfil the contract and its distribution network will ensure that it is possible to get PPE quickly to those who need it most. Scotland's Health and Social Care will also benefit from access to and support from Arco experts who sit on a number of key committees: BSI British Standards, CEN European Standards Committee and the ISO International Standards Organisation. Arco will keep them abreast of any industry developments and will also act as the voice of the health service at those forums.

As part of the contract Arco will work with Scotland's Health and Social Care Face Fit Testing team and together they will coordinate a face fit testing program on the new masks for over 100,000 RPE wearers. Both Arco and Alpha Solway will work with Scotland's Health and Social Care to introduce new product development forums to develop a new mask for 2021 that will meet the requirements of the wearer in terms of comfort and fit, using the face fit data from records.

Bryan Lawrie, Commercial Director at Arco said:

"It is now more important than ever to ensure that the PPE reaching the end user is compliant and offers the correct protection for its purpose. As safety experts, with a wealth of experience and expertise in procuring PPE, including our own independent product testing facility, we are perfectly placed to fulfil this commitment.

We are delighted to be working with NHS Scotland and look forward to establishing this long-term relationship by guaranteeing the supply of certified products, helping to save lives."

Stephen Binnie, a Director of Alpha Solway said:

"We are delighted to be working with Arco to supply this order, and that our partnership has allowed us to fulfil this vital contract for NHS Scotland. Not only are we meeting a large proportion of the Scottish health and social care sector's PPE needs until 2021, but we are also creating 200 jobs in the region, in addition to the 50 jobs already created this year."