The MD of maintenance specialists, Pivot 365 wants retailers, manufacturers and installers working to one minimum safety standard
Keith Phillips of signage maintenance company Pivot 365 has joined the BSGA board, bringing years of hands-on experience in keeping retail signage safe. Speaking to Jack Gocher at The Sign Show, he explains why the sign trade needs a clear minimum standard, and how the BSGA is helping the industry work together to raise these standards.
Pivot 365 looks after signage for retail customers, and safety sits at the centre of everything it does. “We’ve worked very hard over the last four to five years to create a minimum standard, so we know we’ve left a client’s signage safe, secure and illuminated, with no health and safety issues moving forward,” says Keith.
A standard built alongside the association
His relationship with the BSGA goes back to the very start of the company. He recalls, “We knew there was an opportunity to educate and communicate with the marketplace. The sign industry remains unregulated, but it is vital for a company lille ours to aim to work to agreed standards. So when we created our basic specification for services, we decided to do that in line with what the BSGA was trying to do.”
Pivot 365 worked towards the original draft of BS 559-2, and as the business grew it worked more closely with Dave Derbyshire and the team, sitting in meetings to shape the language of a minimum safety standard that covers inspection and maintenance.
For Keith, a board seat offers something the industry rarely manages on its own. “One of the things the signage industry doesn’t do particularly well is talk to each other. There’s a fear of poaching and so on. To be able to speak freely with the likes of Lawrence at Greens, Craig Brown, Dave Allen, Linda Edwards and the team about what we should and shouldn’t be doing is quite refreshing,” he says.
The payoff, he hopes, reaches all the way to the client. “If we can move forward with this legislation for both internal and external signage and educate, then hopefully the procurement departments of retailers will start speaking to us with a bit more understanding of what good looks like,” adds Keith.
Who owns the sign above the shop door
Liability is a question few shoppers ever consider. “You’re walking past, under and through signage on the high street. Where does the liability start and stop, who’s responsible? What’s the history of the estate, the building and the sign?” he asks.
Visiting factories across the trade has shown Keith how much practice varies. “There is no set way at the moment of manufacturing or putting a sign on. There are different practices and different fixings being used,” he notes.
He keeps his own pitch simple. “I’m just a services guy. I want to know how we do something properly, how we replicate that and how we report on it. It’s about process and accountability.” Keith points out that he brings a strong, experienced team, and that their knowledge makes the difference.
For retailers, he particularly sees the case for a shared minimum standard growing stronger, and the BSGA as the natural place to build it.
Keith concludes, “There is a need for an association to say, actually, this is the minimum standard. It doesn’t have to be us; we can just help. Once we’ve understood the language, we should be able to support clients over the next few years to put a plan in place to reach it.”
Watch the interview here: