Nottinghamshire business supports production of masks for public
- Export Champion creates new line of face coverings as part of coronavirus (COVID-19) response
- Company donates £1 for each face covering bought to local NHS trust
A Department for International Trade (DIT) ‘Export Champion’ is leading the way in supplying face coverings to its local area and beyond, in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Source Control Masks is the trading name of Mansfield-based industrial supplies business Hall-Fast. The business normally exports to over 100 countries including Nigeria and Poland. However, in light of the outbreak, it has refocused efforts to support and increase UK supplies of face coverings for the British public.
The Department for Health and Social Care published guidance on 11 May 2020 to advise the public to consider wearing face coverings in enclosed public spaces such as shops, trains and buses to help reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
With the assistance of DIT advisers, the business is working to secure thousands of face coverings from Asia. The company has sold over 8,000 so far and has said its aim is to keep the UK public safe whilst ensuring medical PPE is reserved for healthcare workers.
The business is donating £1 for every face covering sold online to the Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, their local NHS trust, and has raised £2160 so far.
Hall-Fast previously donated excess PPE stock to the value of £2,000 to their local NHS back in March as lockdown restrictions began.
The company has a long-standing relationship with DIT, becoming an ‘Export Champion’ when DIT first set up a base in the East Midlands.
