$2 million-plus wanted to develop safety technology

Anyone who has to work perched up on buildings or other high structures will appreciate this innovative fall protection device. By MIKE PRESTON.

Every Tuesday, Money Wanted features a new entrepreneur or inventor pitching their products or services.

Entrepreneur: Rick Burchell
Industry: Workplace safety
Company: Fall Safe Australia
To: Fund further development and expansion

Geelong company Fall Safe Australia might never have got off the ground but for the traumatic events of September 11, 2001, company founder Rick Burchell (right) says.

The horror of being trapped at a great height without a safe means of descent that was so terribly illustrated at New York’s World Trade Center on that day caused Burchell to wonder whether a device could be developed that would allow people to fall slowly and safely from any height.

The result, after six years of hard work and investment in product development, is Fall Safe Australia’s AbSator fall retardation product.

Initially conceived as a safety device for occupants of tall buildings, Fall Safe Australia is now primarily targeting the mainstream workplace safety market. Burchell says the company has already developed an AbSator device that can be used above 15 metres. He hopes within 12 months to have a product that can be used for shorter falls. 

AbSator attaches to a harness worn by the person working high up and a nearby anchor point in the same way as conventional fall retardation products. But AbSator is unlike other products, Burchell says, in that it utilises an innovative, oil driven safety rotor descent system.

This allows a controlled fall, differentiating it from similar products in the market that, while preventing an uncontrolled fall, can leave the user dangling in mid-air until rescue.

Another advantage is that AbSator can be operated safely by the user, unlike conventional rope control products, which require a person on the ground to operate them, Burchell says.

Developing the technology behind AbSator has presented challenges, not only in product development, but also in manufacturing and intellectual property, Burchell says.

“Arranging the IP has been a huge challenge, because we’ve really been breaking new ground,” he says. “There has been a lot of money spent on lawyers and getting our patents right, and even after we got the right toolmakers who can make the product, it has been difficult.”

Those issues have been overcome, Burchell says, and Fall Safe Australia is now seeking an investment partner to contribute upwards of $2 million that will help the company get to the next level. Burchell says the money will primarily be used to finalise development of the short fall product and take the first steps in a national and international marketing campaign.

Fall Safe Australia’s research has found a positive response in the market for AbSator, Burchell says, particularly the short-fall product. He says there are applications “anywhere people work at height”, with large-scale manufacturing, mining, oil and chemical refining, construction and emergency services just some of the likely target markets.

“We have already received a lot of positive feedback on the product from the industry, and now we have to take it to the next step and start getting licensing agreements in place,” Burchell says. “Hundreds of thousands of people work at height each day. It is a big market and the feedback we have got from the industry suggests AbSator will be successful.”

For information, contact COMET (Commercialising Emerging Technologies) business adviser Bob Beaumont on 0415 597 080.

Rick Burchell: 0418 324 476.

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