Joseph Ash Chesterfield achieves FORS Gold

A huge congratulations to our Joseph Ash Chesterfield site, who has recently achieved the FORS Gold Accreditation for their transport fleet. The accreditation makes the site the first galvanizer in the UK to achieve the Gold level of the accreditation.

The Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) is a voluntary scheme that businesses can undertake to demonstrate their commitment to safe road transport. The accreditation is no easy achievement, being the highest level the scheme achieves. Gold accreditation confirms that the business employs good practice, including dedication to driver and vehicle safety, combined with improving operating practices through effective monitoring of fuel and tyre usage.

Martin Hall, Divisional Manager at Joseph Ash Chesterfield, commented:

“This is a major achievement considering a significant number of dedicated transport companies are yet to achieve this esteemed level of certification.

“FORS Gold is becoming the new standard for a number of our contracts that require deliveries into our major cities. Major improvements have been made to our fleet including trailers and articulated vehicles which utilise some of the latest technology available.

“Chesterfield boast a bath size of 16.5m long by 1.7m wide and 2.65m deep, and can undertake all your collection and delivery needs anywhere in the UK.”

Well done to all involved!

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In the run-up to the COVID-19 lockdown, it was a tricky time for all businesses making decisions about whether or not to keep operating and having to drastically change ways of working. 

At Joseph Ash we made the decision early to maintain operations at all of our Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing plants as we have an important role to play in the supply chain of essential service companies – from infrastructure to food manufacturing, security and healthcare.

Some of the things we have been most proud to galvanize in the last month include steel products for the NHS. We’ve been galvanizing clinical waste bins and trucks, crash trolleys, steelwork for the temporary Nightingale Hospitals, and sadly a temporary morgue. 

The above pictures show some of the steel railings we galvanized for the Dragon Heart’s Hospital in Cardiff on behalf of fabricators W Hare Ltd, as well as steel for an emergency extension to an oxygen tank facility at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London on behalf of SWF Ltd. (More photos can be seen in our Photo Gallery.)

Whilst the safety of our team members and customers is always our top priority (see our news story), we’re glad to be continuing with operations, enabling us to support essential services, and hopefully do our bit to keep the economy going.

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Epidemic health and safety policy provides safety for employees and customers at Joseph Ash Galvanizing.

Since the Coronavirus pandemic began to affect us in the UK, Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing plants have remained opened. This is because it’s critical to maintain operations for essential service companies who rely on us as part of their supply chain.

As we are open, we have written and implemented a new epidemic health and safety policy with the goal of keeping our employees – and any customers and suppliers who visit our site – safe and well. You can read the new policy here.

Health and safety has always been of paramount importance to Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing, and it’s something we’ve been recognised for year-on-year with many RoSPA awards. Therefore the epidemic policy is very important to us. If you are a customer or a supplier who needs to visit one of our plants, or meet with one of our operatives or delivery drivers, we hope you find this new policy useful and comforting as it demonstrates we are doing everything we can to keep our plants safe.

Please get in touch with our Health and Safety Manager – Chris Gibson – should you have any questions or concerns.

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