Business

Head for heights

Producing a signage application is just one part of the job, with the installation of this work a whole matter altogether. While installing pieces at lower level bring with them a host of health and safety considerations, this increases significantly when it comes to working at height.

An increasing number of signage jobs require installation at height; be it letters on the side of multi-storey hotel, colourful banners on the side of a tall building, or even company logos on the side of skyscrapers in the busiest cities in the world, there is certainly an appetite for signage at height.

However, this sort of work brings with it a whole range of safety considerations, both for your own staff when working on site and the general public passing below after the install has been completed. SignLink takes a closer look at some of the key points sign-makers and installers should be aware of when working from above.

Flying high

Global Erecting Sign Services LTD, more commonly known as GESS, is one of the leading signage installers in the UK and Europe, having been installing all sorts of signs at a wide range of locations for more than 25 years. Managing director Martin Hicks has led the business since its early days as a two-man-band, overseeing an incredible transformation from focusing on low-level work to offering expert signage installation at height to a host of major clients.

“We are a highly competent company that is able to install all types of signage from ground level through to extreme high levels including complete building wraps and various other creative works,” Hicks says, adding: “Over the years, we have been approached to undertake a huge variety of projects, some of which are unique and new to the media and sign industry.

“We have developed with the aid of our structural engineers, our own variety of bespoke systems and fixing methods to enable us to install large PVC/mesh images totalling thousands of square metres to scaffold/steel work structures, brick/stonework buildings and largely exposed structures which are affected by heavy winds from all directions.”
 
GESS counts businesses from across the events, sporting, out-of-home, special effects and PR, sign-making, and print management markets among its range of customers, with Hicks revealing that much of GESS’s installation work has appeared across the pages of SignLink over the years.
 
Hicks explains that every job GESS undertakes is given the same level of care, no matter what size the application is or how long it will take to install. He says that the company carries out the same number of checks for each job to ensure both its success and safety.
 
“We have to do lots of risk and method statements and reports in order to do to get from a visual supplied by the customer to a completed project on the side of a building, bridge or other structure,” Hicks says.