An occupational health and safety review of his workplace was the catalyst for ANSA Pty Ltd director Steven Terpstra’s creation of a device that has captured the attention of construction companies across the country, as well as the state’s workplace safe
An occupational health and safety review of his workplace was the catalyst for ANSA Pty Ltd director Steven Terpstra’s creation of a device that has captured the attention of construction companies across the country, as well as the state’s workplace safety watchdog.
As managing director of Armadale-based Enviro Chasing Services, which specialises in concrete wall cutting services for the construction industry, Mr Terpstra was became aware that some of his employees were falling ill as a result of inhaling carbon monoxide fumes while using their equipment.
At the time, there was no efficient or cost-effective solution for the extraction of fumes from the machinery to prevent inhalation by workers.
Mr Terpstra said he was faced with two options – find a solution or exit the business.
“We noticed that, when we did some monitoring and job safety analysis, some guys were getting sick,” he told WA Business News.
“We didn’t feel confident in putting our workers in that position, so we either had to close, or come up with a solution.”
So Mr Terpstra, along with his father Steven and brother Hank, developed the Fume Tube – a device that fits to machinery to collect fume and dust emissions.
Within a day, Mr Terpstra had developed a very basic prototype; and after two years of production, testing and refinement, the product was made available to his workers.
Soon after, Worksafe began issuing bulletins alerting the construction industry to the dangers of employee exposure to fumes.
Liaising with Worksafe on potential for widespread use of his new invention within the industry, Mr Terpstra said the government agency responded positively and went about conducting its own research on the product’s benefits.
Following almost 12 months of testing, Worksafe recommended the product be made available to the public, giving Mr Terpstra’s competition the opportunity to buy it.
But, he said, the industry wasn’t too keen on adopting the new technology.
“Our competition got their back up – they didn’t want to have anything to do with the product,” he said.
“It’s more costly to use the fume extraction, so people still take short cuts.”
But he did find a ready market with some concrete cutting and drilling companies, both in Western Australia and the eastern states.
Retailing at $1,200 each, 200 units have already been shifted purely through word-of-mouth advertising.
Mr Terpstra, his father and brother invested their own money into product development, with the assistance of a “well-off friend”. So far, close to $1 million has been spent on R&D.
Now that the product is commercialised and available to the market, Mr Terpstra said he was looking at the international market and seeking investors to take his product to the next level.
He is currently assessing two options: completely selling off the technology and the idea to an outside party; or staying involved with the product in some way, namely through a shareholding, and assisting in the growth and development of the product.
Either way, Mr Terpstra said he would prefer to remove himself from the business development role, and instead focus on his core business.
He is also hoping to attract investor interest through his appearance on the ABC’s New Inventors program to be screened on Wednesday May 9.
“I’m a techie by trade. I don’t feel I can put any more of myself into it,” he said. “We’d rather concentrate on our core business and sell the concept and the idea to somebody, and they can run with it.”
