Print firm helps NHS by making protective visors

The high-tech, Leeds-based firm has increased the manufacture of PPE to up to 400 visors a day. The firm was forced to halt print production when orders from its global retail and events industry clients were cancelled in March.

The adjustable visors are being dispatched to frontline staff at hospitals, care homes and hospices in Yorkshire and across the UK.

Imageco was bought by managing director Nathan Swinson-Bullough and co-owner Simon Harrison in an MBO in 2015,

After furloughing 25 of Imageco’s 30-strong workforce, Mr Swinson-Bullough was keen to put the company’s production facilities in central Leeds to good use, relying on the help of colleagues and volunteers to switch the firm’s high-tech equipment and design expertise to making the protective face visors that have been in short supply for frontline staff dealing with the coronavirus crisis.

Mr Swinson-Bullough said: “As a team we’re all about bringing creative ideas to life and clients know us for our innovative approach, so I was convinced we would be able to come up with a way we could help.

“When we started out on this initiative though I didn’t realise how big it would become.”

After Imageco operations manager Edward Hillam devised a cutter, Mr Swinson-Bullough used clear PVC and plastic fixings which the firm already had in stock to trial making the protective face masks.

“Producing the adjustable visors turned out to be relatively straightforward and we were able to give the first 160 we made to the neurology team at Leeds General Infirmary,” he said.

Individual donations soon began to arrive and Mr Swinson-Bullough had the idea to set up a Just Giving page to raise money and boost production.

Within three days £1,000 had been raised, at which point the print trade organisation FESPA UK Association, whose head office is in Barnsley, also offered its assistance to contact local hospices and care homes to see if they needed visors.

Mr Swinson-Bullough said: “The support of Suzi and Carol at FESPA UK has been incredible and we have formed a great team.

“We are staggered at how it has all snowballed. People’s generosity, whether donating money or giving their own time, has been incredible.

“As well as FESPA UK, our own staff and their friends and families, the South Yorkshire Police are also on board with this now, which has helped to spread the word and also to deliver to some of the places that need the visors.”

Mr Swinson-Bullough and the team have raised £4,000 and produced 3,000 visors so far, including buying a set of special visors designed for children’s hospices with a colourful rainbow motif.

The equipment has been delivered to care teams across the UK, including in Rotherham, Leeds, Sheffield and Glasgow. The business is also working on other Covid-19 related projects, including producing a range of sustainable hand sanitation stations and social distancing floor signage for commercial clients.

To donate to the Imageco Just Giving page, go to

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/imagecofacemaskfund