Drain Gorillas to the rescue

Rotorua design engineer and inventor Tom Hayes has produced the Gorilla Safety Grill. Photo/Stephen Parker

Tom Hayes has always been safety conscious and his latest invention - the Gorilla Safety Grill - was produced to save lives.

Mr Hayes, founder of Hayes International in Rotorua, said the idea for the Gorilla Safety Grill was born out of the tragic loss of Auckland toddler Aisling Symes in October 2009. She drowned after falling down an open manhole that had been popped off by flood water after heavy rain. A subsequent coroner's report recommended all councils check, secure and fix dangerous manholes.

"That was a real tragedy," he said. "I've always been an inventive sort of person, so I went out to the shed and started working on the grill."

Once he had honed his final design he went about trying to sell them to councils around the North Island.

"I had a meeting with a council in Auckland with about 14 of their engineers. They were quite impressed with what I'd made up and gave me a contract."

The Gorilla Safety Grill can be made to fit under the lid of any sized manhole cover and locked in place preventing people, animals and rubbish being washed into drains.

He said anyone could fit and secure one of his grills in less than five minutes.

They are made of galvanised or stainless steel for durability.

"Most drains are not big enough to cope with the volume of water after a heavy downpour.

"The secret is the steel mesh that can be locked in place under the cast iron manhole cover. If the cover blows off, the grill stops people falling into it."

He said they were not made for use on roads and were better suited to parks where children and animals could be playing.

In the past two years the 85-year-old, who says he won't be retiring any time soon, has produced more than 4000 grills for councils in Auckland, Whakatane, Tauranga and Rotorua. "It's a real Rotorua product too, all the production work has been done in Rotorua by Scorpro [Engineering and Development] and Patchell Stainless."