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When NASA, Universal Studios, Boeing or the National Weather Service have a project that require fall protection, they all rely on one company — Bainbridge Island-based Gravitec Systems Inc. The 21-year-old company specializes in any situation that involves heights, from tall buildings to wind turbines and cell phone towers, and is the largest company of its kind in the industry in North America.
“Anybody who’s working over 6 feet in the air has the opportunity to fall and get hurt or killed,” says Pat Irish, sales manager. “Regardless of what industry you’re in, the idea is to teach you how to prevent a fall, and if you do fall, how to arrest the fall safely.”
The company employs about 30 people, six of whom are engineers. In addition to engineering, designing, and testing fall-protection systems and offering a full line of equipment from major manufacturers, Gravitec has an extensive training program conducted in-house as well as on-site all over the world.
“A lot of students walk out saying it’s the best course they’ve ever taken, and they take lots and lots,” says company founder and President Randall Wingfield.
The training institute has about 70 courses that range from a few hours in length to a full week, and are attended by students from all over the world. Students include engineers, rescuers, supervisors or workers at heights. Class topics range from basic hazard awareness to advanced climbing and rescue techniques. At the end of a course, students take written tests and also have to demonstrate their newly acquired knowledge at the company’s testing/training facility that has a variety of equipment, including a tower.
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Gravitec offers an extensive training program showing how to prevent a fall, and if you fall, how to arrest the fall safely. |
“People choose us because we have a reputation of being problem solvers,” Wingfield says.
Wingfield started the company in Canada, where he grew up. While providing educational programs related to outdoor rescue, climbing and mountaineering for the Canadian military, he decided to start his own business catering to people working in high-risk environments. After receiving a lot of calls to help with rescues, it became apparent those clients “didn’t have a rescue problem, they had a prevention problem.” The business grew rapidly from there, and as Wingfield found himself working more and more with American companies, he decided to make the move — family, business and all — to the United States. Gravitec Systems Inc. has been based on Bainbridge since 1997, and earlier this year moved to a brand new facility at Sportsman Business Park, consolidating all its spaces in one location.
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| Gravitec has a custom built tower at its Bainbridge facility to teach clients exactly how to use its equipment |
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“Our niche in the engineering world is when companies have a fall protection problem and have difficulty figuring it out,” Irish says. “We can conquer any engineering difficulty that may arise.”
Gravitec Systems also offers consulting services, including hazard evaluation reports, in-depth forensic evaluation, inspection services and written procedures, as well as marketing and publication services that can be handled in-house by a fully staffed graphic design and production department.
The business is continuously growing, which Irish attributes to being cutting-edge and an industry leader. Wingfield says, “What we want to do is controlled growth. We have an excellent reputation in the industry and the largest firm dealing with engineering and education… We’re dealing with people’s lives and that’s unforgiving. We’ve had an exceptional record with no injuries and we want to keep it that way.”
Wingfield, who chairs committees with organizations such as the American National Standards Institute and the International Safety Institute, feels the industry is at a turning point similar to what the automotive industry saw when the seat belt laws were introduced. The company is involved with developing safety standards. “What we’re trying to do is change attitudes,” he says. “We’ve come to a time where it’s more about educating workers so they use the equipment.”
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