REMPLOY WINS AWARD FOR INNOVATIVE PROTECTIVE SUIT

Remploy, the UK's largest specialist employer of disabled people, has won the prestigious DuPont award for Protection and Functionality for its new lightweight Swift Responder 3 (SR3) protective suit.

The innovative SR3 - branded 'Quick Don' - was developed in the UK and uses the most advanced protective fabrics. The suit, which has universal applications, offers protection in extreme conditions and emergencies.

Remploy's winning submission was backed by the UK Home Office, which last year awarded the company's textile business, known as Frontline, a £15 million contract to supply SR3 suits to police forces in England, Scotland and Wales. Since winning the order, Remploy has supplied more than 20,000 SR3 suits to 53 police forces.

Richard Bennell, Remploy's Director of Sales and Marketing said: "We are delighted to win the DUPONT NOMEX Protection and Functionality award 2010 in recognition of 18 months of hard work and collaboration with our partners in design and delivery of this unique product. It puts us in a great position in the market place and provides us with the credibility to fully launch the SR3 worldwide."

This latest success underlines Remploy Frontline's reputation as a world-leader in the design and manufacture of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) personal protection suits and other garments for the emergency services and the military.

The SR3 Quick Don was developed in partnership with the Police National CBRN Centre. Crucially, it can be donned in under five minutes, which is about 25 minutes faster than Remploy Frontline's previous protective suit, the CR1.

Remploy Frontline's in-house design team, working in collaboration with WL Gore and DuPont, used their vast experience in garment construction to develop prototype Quick Don suits before finally producing the SR3 using 'Lightweight Nomex' - a groundbreaking combination of DuPont's Lightweight Nomex and WL Gore's Chempak sorptive technology.

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Chris Randall, Senior PR Executive on 0116 281 9844 or 07785 593126

pressoffice@remploy.co.uk

www.remploy.co.uk,

Notes to Editors:

• Remploy operates a national network of 54 factories, which employs almost 3,000 disabled people. It is the country's largest specialist employer of people with disabilities and health conditions


• Remploy supplies chemical biological radiological and nuclear (CBRN) protection suits to police and armed forces in the UK and abroad; it is the largest supplier of furniture to the education sector; operates an IT recycling business; and manufactures components for leading motor manufacturers 


• Last year Remploy found jobs for more than 10,000 people with a range of physical, sensory and mental disabilities. 75 per cent had been out of work for more than a year 


• By 2012/13 Remploy will be finding more than 30,000 jobs each year for people with disabilities and health conditions 


• Remploy operates a national network of 34 town and city centre recruitment branches and offices providing specialist recruitment and development services to job seekers 


• Remploy partners with more than 3,000 of the country's biggest employers including BT, ASDA, Royal Mail, Sainsbury's, the NHS and Marks & Spencer


• The company operates a national network of 54 factories, which employs almost 3,000 disabled people. It is the country's largest specialist employer of people with disabilities and health conditions 


• Remploy supplies chemical biological radiological and nuclear (CBRN) protection suits to police and armed forces in the UK and abroad; it is the largest supplier of furniture to the education sector; operates an IT recycling business; and manufactures components for leading motor manufacturers