WoolSafe conference 2014

It brought together carpet and chemical industry representatives with the best carpet cleaners, inspectors and industry trainers from around the world for two days of seminars, networking and tours. WoolSafe international directors Ruth Travis and Patrick Burgess brought news from WoolSafe members in the US and Australia, respectively. 

Industry stakeholders attending included representatives from quality carpet manufacturers Brintons Carpets, Gaskell Wool Rich and Mr Tomkinson; buying group SMG, ENCO Global Environmental Testing and carpet cleaning product suppliers Chemspec, HOST and Prochem Europe.

The programme covered topics as diverse as Mould Hazard Awareness, ‘Green’ Cleaning and Certification and Pet Urine Decontamination; and included energetic presentations on ‘Modern Marketing’ techniques and effective Customer Relations Management. 

WoolSafe MD Dr Ágnes Zsednai unveiled two new certification programmes by WoolSafe for carpet maintenance products. "The CleanSeal certification mark will be awarded to the most effective cleaning products on synthetic fibres; and the new, European green standard, EGTS1502, will provide more accessible green certification for the cleaning products of UK and EU chemical manufacturers," Zsednai said.

An open forum session led to some interesting industry discussions, and the conference was followed by a well-attended banquet. The second day saw delegates going on guided tours of Brintons Carpets and The Museum of Carpet.