As garages get back to business after lockdown, many have praised original equipment component supplier Schaeffler, which has been helping many to achieve this safely with its ‘BACK ON TRACK’ initiative.

2,000 garages across Ireland and the UK are now in possession of a ‘BACK ON TRACK’ workshop essentials pack, containing a washable mask, hand sanitizer, floor sticker, tape, posters, and some air fresheners for customer vehicles, all in a box which can be repurposed as a Covid-19 cleaning centre for the reception area.

The company’s renowned team of REPXPERTS, usually known for delivering training sessions and best practice advice, were instead tasked with personally delivering around 500 of the ‘BACK ON TRACK’ workshop essentials packs to workshops, while another 1,500 were sent out via UPS from Schaeffler HQ in Hereford, where the packs had been assembled.

“Although response to the initiative has been huge, the icing on the cake has been seeing the reaction of the garages on receiving their packs, whether they have been delivered personally or by courier,” explained Marketing Communications Manager, Jeff Earl. He added, “For instance, we received a fantastic email from a workshop in Romsey, which had just passed its IGA Covid-19 Workplace audit, saying ‘we would not have succeeded with compliance without the pack’. It’s comments like this, along with the overwhelming positivity shared on social media and the dozens of photos we have been sent, that are the reward for all the hard work, not to mention investment, that went into this initiative.”

Jeff concluded, “The whole of the aftermarket is reliant on workshops reopening safely, and customers being confident enough to take their vehicles in for a service or repair, so we are very happy to have played a small, but extremely positive part in this process.”

Workshops that didn’t manage to secure one of the ‘BACK ON TRACK’ packs can still request an A2 poster set, including the ‘safe workshop charter’ and two more striking health and safety posters by visiting the www.repxpert.co.uk news page.