New SATRA structure helps footwear members

Executive director Austin Simmons has taken responsibility for all of Satra's footwear testing, fitting, testing and research activities. This is in addition to his current role of managing safety product testing and quality assurance programmes. Working closely with assistant director Peter Perkins and business manager Lynne Brent, Simmons will co-ordinate all groups to maximise efficiency, encourage better resource utilisation and improve customer service. 'Today's trading environment is a diverse and complex business and it is important that Satra's testing and research activities continue to evolve to meet the needs of our members and customers', says Simmons. 'Satra is a world leader in research, testing and certification and greater integration of these activities will enable us to provide an even better level of service and improve our flexibility.' Satra has responded to an unprecedented demand for CE marking of safety footwear by extending its discounts on testing against the new BS EN ISO 20344 series of standards until the end of March 2005. During this period Satra will continue to offer discounts of up to 50% off all EN ISO 20344 safety footwear tests. Single sample tests will be discounted by 33%, while multiple samples will be eligible for discounts up to a maximum of 50%. This offer covers all tests carried out by Satra on safety and protective footwear tested against the ENISO 20344 series until the end of March 2005. The discounts are available to all footwear manufacturers and suppliers, regardless of whether they are already Satra customers or have had previous products certified at other Notified Bodies. Simmons explains: 'While many of the old EN344 safety footwear tests have been retained, the new series of EN ISO 20344 standards introduce new preconditioning requirements. This means that previous EN344 data cannot be relied upon and almost all materials will need re-testing to confirm compliance with the new standards. 'Satra has introduced these discounts to encourage and help manufacturers to change over to the new standards without delay and to minimise the financial impact.'