Member Article

Twelfth consecutive health and safety “Gold” for Mech-Tool

Mech-Tool Engineering, the global fire and blast protection products manufacturer is celebrating one of theUK’s top health and safety awards – for the 12thconsecutive year.

RoSPA, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, has recognised Mech-Tool’s approach to the prevention of accidents and ill health with a President’s Award, marking the Darlington-based company’s 12thconsecutive Gold Award.

The award was presented by Darlington MP Jenny Chapman in a special ceremony held at the firm’s fabrication facility on the town’s Albert Hill Industrial Estate.

Mech-Tool has its head office in Darlington, as well as the separate fabrication facility, and an additional operations base inMiddlesbrough, on the banks of the River Tees.

The company employs 170 people in its current facilities and has two business units: one manufacturing fire and blast rated modular units, the other producing lightweight prefabricated topside cladding products to protect workers in hazardous environments.

Plans are also underway to develop a company presence inAberdeen, allowing Mech-Tool to enjoy closer engagement with the thriving North East Scotland energy market.

For more than 35 years, Mech-Tool has been active in the oil and gas market and now utilises traditional manufacturing skills for modern growth industries, such as those in the offshore renewables market.

Matthew Camp, Mech-Tool’s business manager, said: “We are exceptionally proud of our health and safety record at Mech-Tool and this 12thconsecutive Gold Award from RoSPA is a welcome recognition of what we see as one of the most important considerations of any business.

“The industrial work we conduct involves a lot of machinery, working with heavy raw materials and creating products which are used in dangerous environments. Therefore, it is vital that we have very strict and valuable health and safety procedures in place and that these are adhered to. Again, our success in this area is reflected by this latest award and all of those which have come before it.”

Jenny Chapman, MP for Darlington, added: “Mech-Tool is an excellent example of aDarlingtoncompany operating successfully in a thriving global market. This President’s Award shows that the important values of health and safety are at the forefront of Mech-Tool’s work, and that is very heartening to see.”

David Rawlins, awards manager at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), a safety charity with a 95-year history, said: “The RoSPA Awards programme provides well-deserved recognition for the winners and spurs on other organisations to raise their standards of accident and ill health prevention. We congratulate Mech-Tool Engineering Limited on its success and encourage it, and all our other winners, to remain committed to safety and health, an approach that is well recognised to be good for workers and the bottom line.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul White .