BCF, Paint Companies Partner for Minutes Matter Campaign

Imagine coming across someone who is suffering from a heart attack, or even worse, having one yourself. Having a defibrillator nearby can mean the difference between life and death. Knowing where a defibrillator might be is obviously crucial; studies show that for every minute someone in cardiac arrest does not receive CPR or the assistance of a defibrillator, their chance of survival lessens by 10 percent.

In the UK, the Community Heartbeat Trust (CHT) is making sure that defibrillators are not only available, but that people know where to find them, courtesy of the Minutes Matter campaign. In this case, CHT is turning unused classic red phone boxes into defibrillator stations, which are being given fresh coats of paint.

“The donated red and gold paint has enabled communities to make these once great icons to be restored to their former glory,” said Martin Fagan, national secretary of the CHT.

For the past 10 years, the British Coatings Federation (BCF) has supported CHT, donating more than £100,000. To date, BFCF and its members have transformed more than 750 unused iconic red phone boxes into life-saving defibrillator stations. BCF holds charity bike rides to raise funds; this year’s ride raised more than £19,000 for CHT.

In addition, BCF members companies are also supporting the Minutes Matter campaign, providing paint and their time to refurbish kiosks. To date, 22 BCF member companies have at least one kiosk to their credit (see below). BCF members provide a paint system of undercoat and traditional red topcoat, worth around £75, to every local community that installs a defibrillator in a unused phone box. So far, BCF members have given approximately £56,000 worth of paint.

Martin Fagan, national secretary of the CHT, said that the idea for Minutes Matter started from a simple walk.

“One of our trustees, Richard, first came up with the idea as he was walking the dog and met a senior manager from BT,” Fagan noted. “This resulted in two kiosks being converted as a trial, and the adoption and conversions went from there. As part of this we suggested renovating the kiosks and BT put us in contact with the paint industry’s trade body, the British Coatings Federation (BCF). From there the partnership has grown.

“The support from BCF members has been superb,” Fagan added. “They have supported the renovation of kiosks through paint donations and fundraising. We are very grateful to their support.”

“I am inordinately proud of the work we do with the Community Heartbeat Charity, now in our 10th year of partnership through the Minutes Matter campaign,” BCF CEO Tom Bowtell said. “This has given 750 communities across the UK access to a potentially life-saving defibrillator, plus giving a new lease of life to iconic red phone boxes found in most villages. I would like to thank our members for their kind and generous contributions and look forward to hitting the 1,000-phone box conversion mark in the not-too-distant future.”

Most importantly, the phone boxes are saving lives, and people are recognizing that there are dibrillators there.

“Whilst we do not have the exact numbers, we do know many have been used successfully,” Fagan reported. “We did a program with 13 to 14 year-olds recently, and when asked where to find a defib they unanimously said a Phone Box! BT recently extended the programme of adoptions and used the project with CHT and BCF as a market for best practice.”


“Most communities want to see the kiosk restored and used for good projects,” said Fagan. “These are not always defibrillators. We are doing one currently that will become a cheese museum! Others have become libraries, and one even a fish tank!”

Paint Manufacturers and Minutes Matter

At least 22 UK paint and coatings manufacturers are participating in the Minutes Matter campaign. AkzoNobel has been involved with Minutes Matter since 2014 and has donated paint for 226 kiosks through its nationwide Dulux Decorator Centre network, and Peter Howard, sustainability lead UKI for AkzoNobel, said that the defibrillators have been used to save numerous lives.

“We chose to donate Dulux Trade Metalshield for its protection and aesthetic qualities, helping to turn these iconic kiosks into life-saving community resources,” said Peter Howard, sustainability lead UKI, AkzoNobel. “Many of the defibrillators placed in the kiosks have been used which is testament to the need that the Minutes Matter programme addresses.”
 
“We believe in bringing communities together through the power of paint,” Howard added. “Since we launched the Dulux Let’s Colour initiative in 2009, we’ve carried out thousands of colourful projects to transform lives, spaces and communities across the UK. The BCF’s Minutes Matter programme is perfectly aligned to Let’s Colour so we were delighted to get involved not only in protecting a unique part of our heritage by painting the old telephone booths but also in contributing to such a brilliant campaign.” 

Stephen Paddy Dyson, HMG Paints’ marketing manager, noted that HMG participates by donating the paint for the telephone boxes, adding that while the company has actually never been asked to paint any itself, that isn’t something HMG Paints would be against.

“What normally happens is a customer will see the story on our website and ask how they can get involved,” Dyson said. “We then direct them to the Minute Matters site and once they’ve registered their phonebox, we provide the paint. We have also donated to people who have converted telephone boxes into other things such as libraries.”

Dyson said that HMG Paints joined the Minutes Matter campaign “purely and simply to support a great initiative.”

“We’ve seen numerous examples of the vital importance access to a defibrillator has on saving peoples’ lives and for us the more of them available the better,” Dyson noted. “We have two ourselves on site at HMG which can be access by anyone, though unfortunately not in a vintage telephone box. Our staff also get training on how to use defibrillators so if an incident occurs on site or whenever they’re away from HMG in their personal lives, they know how to use them and can act quickly and help a person’s chance of survival.”


These are the BCF member companies that are participating in Minutes Matter, with number of kiosks included:
• Andura Coatings – 19
• Axalta – 7
• Bailey Paints – 12
• Craig & Rose – 5
• Crown Paints – 164
• Dacrylate – 36
• Dulux Decorator Center (AkzoNobel) – 226
• Firwood – 6
• HMG Paints – 8
• Indestructible Paint – 20
• James Briggs Ltd. – 11
• Jotun – 1
• Little Greene – 4
• Manor Coating Systems – 6
• PPG Industries – 93
• Pronto Paints – 17
• Sherwin-Williams – 10
• Teal & Mackrill – 10
• Teknos – 20
• Tor Coatings – 1
• Trimite – 10
• Valspar – 10