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Heavy weather for sign firm

Staff at the Kent-based national emergency centre for sign installation and maintenance company Xmo Strata have been inundated with calls following severe weather in Scotland.

In high winds, signs can become lethal if they are damaged - sign panels made of metal, composites or glass fibre can become detached and fly through the air at the speed of the wind.

In early January the company's Scottish engineering teams were very hard pressed for several days and teams from England were sent in to reinforce their colleagues. Gale force winds across Scotland on the evening of January 8 caused extensive damage and a peak in emergency calls. Gusts of up to 108 miles per hour were recorded for a brief period during the morning of 9th January and specialist engineers were closing a retail or petrol forecourt site every few minutes somewhere in Scotland. Thanks to the skills of the engineering teams, many were open again within hours - but some remained closed for some time.

Xmo Strata Managing Director Steve Martin last year called for sign manufacturers to make their products more robust in the light of global weather changes and increasing extreme weather events. "Signs can Ð and do kill people in extreme weather," he said. "Our teams have special training to deal with these situations, and are very well aware of all the health and safety issues surrounding such work. Quite often, we can do very little other than 'make safe' - remove immediate risks to life and limb - and close a site until the weather abates and a proper repair can be carried out."

The call centre, which is manned by specially trained staff, is based at the company's head office in a converted oasthouse at Marden, near Maidstone. Staff have been bracing themselves for more busy nights in February with forecasts predicting continued high winds.
Contact Information
For further information please contact:

Xmo Strata
Tel: 0845 2300 460
www.xmostrata.com