The annual BIOT exhibition is not only the largest in Russia, but it may safely be said that currently it is the largest OSH exhibition in the CIS countries and Eastern Europe. It was held for the 23d time.
BIOT-2019 hosted 450 exhibitors from 23 countries and occupied an area of 16.5 thousand square meters. Compared to the previous year the exhibition area was increased by 30%. According to BIOT administration, the exhibition was attended by 20.356 visitors from 45 countries over three days.
BIOT-2019 featured many events that were held for the first time.
Thus for the first time the visitors and participants could watch business events online. This service was used by 2.673 occupational safety specialists.
The business program of the exhibition aroused great interest too. In the framework of the business program a number of major Russian companies: Russian Railways, Rosatom and Gazprom held conferences on occupational safety.
A conference on the implementation of Vision Zero concept in Russia took place as a part of the exhibition program. A number of foreign experts participated in it. Many events were attended by the Secretary General of the European Safety Federation Henk Vanhoutte.
The exhibition was attended by senior officials of the Russian Government: Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, Minister of Labor and Social Protection Maxim Topilin and the Chairman of the Social Insurance Fund Andrei Kigim.
On the first day of the exhibition, a meeting on the introduction and application of innovative PPE in the Russian Federation was held. It was attended by Ms. Golikova and Mr. Topilin.
As a follow-up the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Industry and the Social Insurance Fund were instructed to work out new regulations that will define the notion of «innovative PPE» and allow end users to include PPE expenses into cost price. At the moment in Russia PPE items are issued to the workers according to the norms of issuance that differ by profession. The issuance norms stipulate what PPE and in what quantities are to be issued to the workers during the year. A company can write off the expenses only for the PPE that are indicated in the issuance norms.
Now it is crucial to introduce innovative PPE into the norms of issuance and make a definition of what «innovative PPE» is. The expert on this issue is the PPE Association (ASIZ), which was also the organizer of the BIOT exhibition. President of the Association, Vladimir Kotov actively participated in all major events of BIOT 2019.
Vladimir Kotov, President of the ASIZ:
«Currently the PPE Association includes 115 companies operating in the Russian and CIS markets. The total turnover of ASIZ member organizations exceeds 1.8 billion Euros.
The Association consists not only of Russian companies, but also branches and representative offices of the world’s largest PPE manufacturers: Honeywell, 3M, UVEX, GVS, Deb-Stoko, Ansell, Lakeland, Delta Plus and others. The Association actively shapes the market and is the only expert of the program for introduction of smart PPE in the Russian market. »
Not only Honeywell, 3M, UVEX, Ansell, Delta Plus, but also other renowned international companies participated in BIOT: DuPont, Univet, Klopman, Carrington, JSP, Optrel AG, Sacla Coverguard, Projob, Bolle, Portwest, Ejendals, Oxyline, Pezzol, Safety Jogger etc.
Getsiz.ru was the official media partner of the exhibition and actively took part in the business program of BIOT.
On the first day of the exhibition, Getsiz.ru jointly with the PPE Association presented the annual rating “TOP-50 Companies in the Russian PPE market”.
On the second day of BIOT, Getsiz.ru held a round table discussion “Export Potential of Russian PPE Manufacturers. Vector of further development” and a panel discussion: “E-commerce and social networks as tools for PPE promotion”.
These events have met with great interest.
Evgeny Shuvalov, Getsiz.ru:
“BIOT has aroused great interest both among the end-users and manufacturers of PPE. BIOT is currently one of the largest PPE and OSH exhibitions in Europe. The PPE Association and its President, Vladimir Kotov, managed to considerably increase the exhibition area and attract a large number of specialists and end users. The Russian PPE market grew in 2019 according to Getsiz.ru estimates by 10%. Russian market takes a keen interest in smart PPE and it was at the BIOT exhibition that the concepts of new digital PPE were presented both by Russian manufacturers — SOMZ (Perm region), (Getsiz.ru reference: SOMZ is the largest producer of safety eyewear, helmets, and face shields in Russia. In the Getsiz.ru rating it takes the 13th place. The company’s turnover in 2018 amounted to 22.7 million Euros), and foreign manufacturers – UVEX and UNIVET. An interesting innovation was presented at the BIOT, commissioned by one of the largest metallurgical holdings in Russia — MMC Norilsk Nickel.
I favorably evaluate the business program of the exhibition and the way it was covered by media. I was a member of the contest jury for the competition of young PPE development engineers. The competition was organized by the PPE Association and the young developers presented very interesting innovative ideas. The winners received valuable gifts. Young people are looking at the PPE market with great interest and it’s gratifying.
I saw a serious interest of foreign companies in the Russian PPE market, which is now growing and ranks 4th in the world. The volume of the Russian PPE market in 2019 amounted to 2.2 billion Euros, according to Getsiz.ru estimates. Russia is a country with a European mentality, developed extracting and manufacturing industries with a steady demand for high-quality PPE.
Getsiz.ru is often contacted by foreign PPE manufacturers and we provide support in finding reliable distributors in Russia. I recommend that the companies that are not yet represented in Russia assess the possibility of entering the Russian market”.
The next BIOT exhibition will be held on December 8-11, 2020 in Moscow, Russia.