Pictured above: International trade adviser Paul Thompson is pictured left with Granville Shaw, managing director of Guardian Safety Systems

A Worcestershire company has won contracts worth over £400,000 to protect hospital staff in Australia - with help from UK Trade & Investment.

Guardian Staff Safety Systems, of Vale Business Park, Evesham, provides, installs and maintains electronic-based systems in buildings such as mental health hospitals, custodial suites and airports, where staff are potentially at risk from attacks in the workplace.

The company joined UK Trade & Investment's flagship Passport to Export programme, which helps firms to develop their export business, in July 2008.

After providing a trial system for appraisal at a mental health ward at Bentley Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, last year, the company was invited to tender for providing a system for almost the entire hospital, including external areas.

The systems incorporate the very latest technical developments with call logging and "front end" graphics packages. 

The Guardian bids were the most competitive, but the company was asked to demonstrate long-term commitment to its activities in Australia, as the systems are installed into the infrastructure of the building and maintained for the life of the building.

Over several months, Guardian was able to achieve this and won the contract, together with a further contract for Rockingham Hospital, Western Australia. 

The total value of these contracts is approximately £400,000 and the company estimates further business in Australia will be worth up to £3m over the next year.

Managing director Granville Shaw said: "On satisfactory completion of the Bentley installation, which is expected imminently, the contract for Freemantle Hospital will be placed with the company.

"We are currently expanding into other states in Australia and have received enquiries in the market from a wide variety of industries where there are security issues for staff in the workplace.

"The financial support we have received to visit the market through the Passport to Export scheme has been most welcome and networking with other companies through our Chamber of Commerce has also been extremely helpful."

UK Trade & Investment international trade adviser Paul Thompson, based at Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce, said: "This is a well-deserved reward for all the hard work that Guardian Staff Safety Systems has put into this project and I am delighted that we were able to help via the Passport to Export programme."

For more information about how UK Trade & Investment can help your business expand into new markets abroad, contact the international trade team at Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce on Tel: 0845 641 1515.