Posted on 12th March 2020

Dear Guardsman Customers,

Due to the recent outbreak of Covid-19 we have prepared this statement to inform our customers of the impact this has had to date and is likely to have in the future with the supply of PPE in the UK market.

We have attached a letter from the European Safety Federation (ESF) relating to the impact on the PPE market following the outbreak of COVID-19. Guardsman is a member of the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) and as such supports the attached statement – dated 9th March 2020.

Since the Coronavirus outbreak we have experienced a number of challenges in the PPE market place. These include an unprecedented demand for COVID-19 sensitive products including, respiratory protective equipment (RPE), eye wear, examination gloves, disposable coveralls, hand sanitisers, wipes and general cleaning products. As a result of these exceptional increases in demand, we are expecting that there will be extended lead times for the arrival of goods from our partner suppliers.

To ensure we act in a fair, responsible and consistent way, ensuring we protect our customers workers as a priority, we have committed to the following actions:

• To ensure we continue to supply our existing contracted customers as a priority
• To ensure we do not accept orders for unusual high demands of sensitive products
• To ensure we do not support new or speculative customers with sensitive products
• To monitor lead times and report to customers should deliveries be impacted
• To purchase additional volumes of stock where we can with partner suppliers
• To identify alternative stock lines from multiple sources without compromising quality, specification or standards

Please be assured that these supply chain challenges are our number one priority at Guardsman, to ensure we continue to ‘Protect People Everyday.’

Further statements will be issued, as required, as the situation in the UK develops.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Eames
Guardsman Wholesale Manager

Posted in Market news, Supplier news