CASE ANALYSIS
- Safety Step has been very active in the aviation sector in Australia since 2010, when they supplied products for roll up passenger stairs. They would supply directly to the engineering firms fabricating the physical stair structures and quickly received approval from both Virgin Australia (airline) and Jetstar (Qantas’ main domestic airline) to become the preferred anti-slip product supplier for all of the airline’s stair sets.
- In 2017-18 Jetstar Airlines approached Safety Step International, along with other suppliers in both Australia and China, to come up with a new design for a full step cover that included text in both English and Mandarin, as well as ISO safety symbols. The idea was to get the safety message onto the stair surface where the passengers’ eyes were focused rather than via an ineffectual sign attached to the side of the handrail
- Rather than follow all of the other companies and offer a surface coating that would wear off after a very short amount of time, we developed a method of individually cutting each piece of material out, with CNC precision, and then reassembling it as a one-piece product. Each letter, character and symbol was coloured all the way through allowing the product to never wear off
- This unique customization secured Safety Step International’s contract for over 180 sets of stairs throughout Australia and NZ
- Virgin Australia (airline), who had been installing our glow stair nosings for many years, saw the new ‘message step covers’ and committed to installing them on the bottom steps of all of their stair structures. Further, we had just supplied anti-slip products for Virgin Australia’s Brisbane airport assets before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, shutting the whole operation down. Safety Step International has resumed supply again, mostly for new builds. SSI is also involved in developing new ‘under wing maintenance stands’ for Virgin Australia Airline engineers.
Education
- Customer education is an area of opportunity to help sell the benefits of anti-slip technology, and the superiority of Safety Steps/TRAX products. By offering an honest, complimentary onsite assessment outlining health and safety risks, Safety Step International clients are able to purchase a long-lasting product with confidence they will save money long term and be up to government ISO standards
- The quality of Safety Step International’s unique composite products, combined with custom-made solutions, is immediately noticed by prospective clients
- Handling Safety Step International products and samples beside those of a cheaper competitor are the best way to show superior craftsmanship. Having samples on-hand leads to closing more sales quickly.
