Devon-based GripHero wins two national awards in one night

Hatherleigh-based GripHero Ltd, the developer of the world’s only fuel nozzle-mounted, anti-static hand-protection dispensers, has walked away with not one but two major titles at the prestigious Association for Petroleum and Explosives Administration (APEA) 2019 Awards.

Honouring the latest products and most innovative services available on the forecourt and in the petroleum market, GripHero’s success in winning both the Environmental Protection and Improvement Award, and the Innovation Award, is a huge endorsement for the Devon business which supplies hand-protection to forecourts that serve over 250,000,000 drivers annually.

Following its launch only last year, GripHero has made major in-roads into transforming the face of refueling across the country.

Forecourts using GripHero are able to fit dispensers on each and every fuel pump ending the need for motorists to search for hand-protection that prevents the transfer of contaminants, foul-smelling fuel, carcinogens, viruses, illness or worse, from the hand of one driver to another via the fuel pump handle.

Commenting on its success at the APEA awards, Oli Yeo, Managing Director and the designer of GripHero’s patented dispenser and anti-static hand-protection, commented: “GripHero’s solution to protecting the health and wellbeing of customers on the forecourt and reducing plastic waste has captured the imagination not only of the judges at the APEA awards, but forecourt owners up and down the country.

“When you realise that the average fuel pump handle is over 11,000 times dirtier than the typical toilet seat, it becomes apparent that we should all be using hand-protection at the fuel pump. The trouble is, it’s often hard to find, or has run out. GripHero addresses that problem by ensuring that hand-protection is where you need it, when you need it; on the very thing you are about to touch, the fuel pump handle.”

Before GripHero came to market, the factor preventing hand-protection being dispensed in the fuel zone was the possibility of ignition caused by a static charge released when a glove or item of hand-protection was withdrawn from a pack. As a result, all conventional hand-protection has had to be dispensed away from the fuel pumps themselves.

Through GripHero’s innovative use of ATEX-Certified anti-static material, all chance of ignition caused by static has been removed, enabling its dispensers to be placed on the fuel nozzle itself. Moreover, driven by the desire to cut plastic waste, GripHero’s single item dispenser prevents the clumps of gloves that are so regularly withdrawn by drivers using conventional dispensers. This avoids unnecessary waste where serviceable hand-protection is either binned or left to blow away in the wind.

Oli Yeo explains: “Our single item release mechanism has been proven to slash the volume of single use hand-protection plastics on the forecourt by an average of 55%. That represents 490 tonnes of plastic waste per year that could be avoided if all forecourts across the UK installed GripHero.

“Supported by our range of bold and brightly coloured recycling bins, we complete the plastics recycling loop on the forecourt, providing a total solution that’s good for the driver, the forecourt owner and the environment.

“We also enhance the customer relationship between motorists and forecourt shops as drivers with clean hands are more likely to make impromptu purchases of higher margin items such as snacks, coffee, ice cream and sandwiches, than those with foul-smelling fingers.”

Encapsulating why GripHero won the awards, the APEA Independent Judging Panel said: “GripHero has solved the big problem, the wastage of hundreds of thousands of gloves on the forecourt, while pioneering the use of biodegradable gloves for the future! Simple to implement. Environmentally sound. This is a fantastic customer-focused innovation. Well done GripHero!”

In addition to its recyclable single use hand-protection, GripHero offers an Oxo-Biodegradable variant that is also ATEX Certified anti-static. This has been specially developed for countries that either stipulate the use of Oxo-Biodegradable materials, or that do not have the facilities in place to cope with recycling. 

For more information about GripHero, visit www.griphero.com or call 01837 811035.