Ayrshire-based Compliance LEV, which has achieved stellar growth by significantly reducing energy use in manufacturing and protecting workforce health, is now focusing on its training arm in order to help clients get the best return of investment (RoI) on its systems.

The company, which specialises in local exhaust ventilation (LEV), has created and is delivering a unique training course which is offered to customers when it installs the systems in their facilities. The company has now become an approved training provider for, and affiliate of, the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) a science-based, charitable body that provides expertise in the recognition, control and management of workplace health risks.

It is now setting up a dedicated training space in the new facility it is building in Mauchline, Ayrshire, which will more than treble its capacity and allow it to accommodate its rapid growth, which is predicted to be 90% this year.

Compliance LEV director, Dale Taylor (pictured), said: “Post-Covid-19, awareness of the air we breathe has soared up the agenda and the Health and Safety Executive is strongly pushing the importance of clean air and LEV compliance.

“These are complex systems and, if you do not train personnel, it is like giving someone the keys to a car full of petrol and with an MoT, but then not telling them how to drive it. They should know how to operate, fault-find and maintain the systems.

“Training is a relatively recent development for us but we have already provided courses for organisations such as a global manufacturer of gas turbines and Historic Environment Scotland and, over the next two to three years, it will become a significantly more important component of the business.”

Compliance LEV creates bespoke systems for companies by acquiring industry-leading components from original equipment manufacturers around the world and designing and installing unique solutions to meet clients’ individual requirements. It has also developed and introduced a revolutionary Oil Mist Solution for CNC machines such as drills, lathes, mills and grinders which cuts power consumption by between 47% and 68%. Its filtration captures the mist and fumes from fluids used as lubricants or coolants.

Mr Taylor pointed out that, as well as in industrial applications, poor respiratory hygiene is caused by emissions from road vehicles, aircraft fuel, and airborne particles such as dust, dirt, soot and smoke, which are small enough to be suspended in the atmosphere. Respiratory illnesses are estimated to cost the UK more than £11 billion a year.

He said: “We have had very positive feedback from the organisations for which we have provided training so far. Employers like it because it involves and includes operators in their business and processes.

“Essentially, the business has a duty to provide operators with the best and safest equipment, and the employee has a duty to look after it and use it efficiently and within the correct parameters. Training is seen as being very empowering for employees.”

Founded in 2017, the Compliance LEV incorporates a design review into its examination and test phase and its project team rectifies any non-compliance. As well as extraction for the metalworking industry, it deals with wood dust, titanium dust, chemicals, respirable crystalline silica, soldering, organic and weld fumes.

It works with some of the UK’s largest engineering and pharmaceutical companies and also has clients in sectors as diverse as food production, paper manufacturing, quarrying and aerospace.