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The climber's answer to a pain in the neck
AN entrepreneur hopes to sell his new neck-safety device to 50,000 people in its first year, after winning funding from the New Zealand version of Dragons' Den.
Nigel King hopes that Necprotech, which he chose to launch in the UK, will be snapped up by DIY and safety shops, telecom engineers and construction
and aviation firms. The device supports the neck when workers need to spend a long time looking up.
It was invented by Darrell Poole, a New Zealander who developed the idea after a rock-climbing accident.
Mr Poole had a brush with death when his belayer – the climber's buddy who watches the ascent and feeds the rope to ensure that it stays taut in the event of a fall – had stopped looking up because his
neck hurt. Mr Poole fell six metres because of the slackness of the rope.
Mr Poole made the prototypes in his shed at home before Mr King took took over. After several trials and refinements, Mr King and Mr Poole's brother, Brendon, presented Necprotech on New Zealand's Dragons' Den and received NZ $300,000 (114,442), the highest sum of money won on the show. They also won NZ $60,000 (22,888) funding from the New Zealand government.
Leeds-born Mr King, who used to run Highfield International, a recruitment firm in the city, before becoming UK sales manager for Monster.com, an online careers network, said: "The head is very weak – it weighs about 14lb, the same as a bowling ball – and if you lean back it puts a lot of stress on the neck.
"There are about 1.2m people in the UK with muscular skeletal disorders, and we believe Necprotech will reduce stress on neck muscles by an average of 35 per cent."
The businessmen chose to launch Necprotech in the UK because there is a much greater potential market here.
Mr King and the Poole brothers believe there will be a strong demand for the product in the UK and cited figures from an EU study showing that neck and upper-limb disorders account for 45 per cent of all work-related disorders in Europe.
Necprotech was tested in development by the Human Performance Centre at New Zealand's Otago University. It has also been endorsed by the New Zealand Chiropractic Association.
The firm has agreed a deal with an independent personal protective equipment manufacturer in Europe and the equipment is being trialled by BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, in Australia.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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