How the company and S-CUT came to be
ES Equipment AB is the fruit of an EU project that came about after ambulance nurse Björn Åhlén was tasked with equipping the Swedish Rescue Agency’s international chemical response team. He soon realized that the scissors on hand for cutting up clothing to begin life-saving efforts were far from optimal for their intended use.
In connection with a large decontamination exercise, Björn saw that it took long time with the scissors when cutting up the clothes.
– In the event of a major accident with many seriously injured people, it takes far too long time, plus there is a great risk of injuring the patient when using scissors. It gives less capacity in the clean-up work and patients with potentially severe injuries or medical conditions can, in the worst case, die , he says.
Martin Bergstrand receives the award Quality Innovation of the Year 2001. Dispenser was the Finnish president Tarja Halonen. To the left, Charlotte Brogren, Director General of Vinnova, the Swedish government agencies of innovations.
He began to think about a better solution and came in 2004 into contact with Mats Fridh on the EU’s innovative action program MTiV (Medical Technology in Värmland), which led to the start of a development project. The Swedish Rescue Agency, the County Council in Värmland and the Defense Medical Center each had to submit a requirement specification for what such a tool would be able to handle.
Martin Bergstrand, an engineer attached to the project, was tasked with compiling all the requirement specifications into one and producing a proposal for a solution. A first concept for a new cutting tool was presented and aroused great interest among the claimants. The development of the S-CUT had begun.
The result is a unique serie of cutting tools that replace conventional scissors and knives, for example in rescue teams, military forces when open up clothes safe and quick are required. The S-CUT can be used by both right- and left-handed people and is fully manageable even with rough gloves on. It easily cuts through leather and virtually all textile materials, such as Gore-Tex. S-CUT also cuts through several layers of textile in a single cut.