Staff Make Essential Safety Equipment for North East Front Line Workers

Our staff are implementing initiatives to support NHS workers and other front line workers in the local area and provide them with essential Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect them from COVID-19.

Head of Chemistry and Assistant Director of Studies, Ashley Law made packs of PPE such as goggles, safety glasses and face visors from the school’s science and design and technology departments. This equipment was provided to three local GP practices and was used on the front line of the efforts to tackle COVID-19.

As a School, we wanted to do more. Our head of design and technology, Ian Barrett, worked with other members of the department, using specifications available online to produce a prototype acetate face visor for frontline NHS staff. On the same day that we made the prototype, and having scoured the school for the required materials, we completed a run of 150 visors. These have now been allocated to a range of NHS settings to protect front line workers. Following that, and after another adjustment to the design, the team were able to make a further 120 visors.

Through kind donations from the community and supplies sought by the team, we were able to continue production and by May had made over 600 visors in total. These were allocated to 12 organisations across Teesside, including Five Lamps, Durham Dales ‘hot hub’ and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Huw Williams, Headmaster at Yarm School, said: “We wanted to do as much as we could to support society’s efforts to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.

“Like many schools, we are running a skeleton operation to look after the children of key workers, but we realised that we have the facilities to do more – such as the laser cutter in DT – and my colleagues were eager to contribute. There has been a very positive response to our efforts, and the visors are already being distributed and used in a number of settings, including community COVID ‘hot hub’ clinics, to protect doctors and nurses helping patients who are displaying COVID-19 symptoms.

“I am incredibly proud of the Yarm School community for their continued efforts to support frontline staff and we are immensely grateful to local businesses and our community who have offered to donate the key materials we require to make more visors.

I hope that we can continue to show our support and solidarity during this difficult time, and I would like to personally thank all the dedicated key workers in Teesside and across the UK.”