July 2018 newsletter
Welcome to the latest Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter. Hot off the press today!
To read a copy click here.
If you would like to receive a copy of the newsletter in your inbox each month, please subscribe by scrolling to the bottom of the page and looking for the ‘Newsletter Sign-Up’ button.
We’re always looking for interesting articles in the steel industry too, so feel free to get in touch with your news, and we’ll try to feature it.
Welcome to the latest Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter. Hot off the press today!
To read a copy click here.
If you would like to receive a copy of the newsletter in your inbox each month, please subscribe by scrolling to the bottom of the page and looking for the ‘Newsletter Sign-Up’ button.
We’re always looking for interesting articles in the steel industry too, so feel free to get in touch with your news, and we’ll try to feature it.
Safety culture at Joseph Ash leads to machinery innovations
As a five-time winner of the RoSPA Gold Award for health and safety in the workplace, Joseph Ash Galvanizing is always looking at ways to protect employees, customers and visitors to our plants. A recent health and safety initiative that we are proud of involves a new crane invention.
Osmond Crosdale is our Maintenance Manager at Joseph Ash Galvanizing, who has been working with the Walsall maintenance team to develop a new motorised crane hook safety catch system, with the aim of preventing accidental hook detachment in slack rope situations.
The team have designed and launched a wireless system which is integrated into an automated process (thus eliminating human elements), which automatically closes prior to the picking up of a load carrier (or jig) and opens only when ready for unhooking in a safe manner as prescribed by the automated sequencing.
A short video of the crane hook safety catch system can be seen on our YouTube channel.
This is a perfect example of a creative solution with safety at its core, and it is a great achievement by Joseph Ash Walsall.
We look forward to carrying this initiative through to our other plants in due course.
On Friday 8 June the Galvanizing Association hosted their annual Galvanizers Association Galvanizing Awards at the prestigious Royal Aeronautical Society in London. We attended the event and we were delighted to meet many of the entrants and winners, as well as colleagues and contacts from the galvanizing industry.
It was a great afternoon and we’d like to say congratulations to all the winners!
The winners are as follows:
- Highly Commended Architecture Award: won by 6a Architects for the Blue Mountain School
- Galvanizing in Architecture Award: won by Tonkin Liu for Old Shed New House
- Construction Industry Choice Award: Pezo von Ellrichshausen for Hull Pavilion
- Galvanizing in Engineering Award: won by Shand Building Design Ltd for Middleton of Rora
- Detail Award: won by Michael Trentham Architects for The New Portland Arms
- Sustainability Award: won by Millar + Howard Workshop for Dursley Treehouse
- Duplex Award: won by Newground Architects for Rehearsal Rooms
- Special mention for Emma Stothard Sculpture for Boiled Lobster
- Special mention for Studio Andrew Todd for Hardelot Theatre
Well done everyone!
Today marks the day when the wonderful sculpture by artist Luke Perry was unveiled in Tamworth. It’s been a long journey through the stages of artwork commission, through to design, fabrication, galvanization and erection, but Queen Aethelflaed, ‘Lady of the Mercians’ is finally on display, for all to see on the Offa Drive/Saxon Drive roundabout outside Tamworth Railway Station.
Mick Jackson was invited along to the unveiling as a Joseph Ash Galvanizing representative, as our Telford plant proudly galvanized the steel for Luke Perry.
It was a great event. Members of the public, Luke Perry and his family, as well as the Mayor of Tamworth, and also Aethelflaed herself (!) were there to join in the celebrations.
To see a full album of photos showing the sculpture pre-galvanization, during galvanization, post-galvanization, and installed, click here.
Welcome to the latest Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter. Hot off the press today!
To read a copy click here.
If you would like to receive a copy of the newsletter in your inbox each month, please subscribe on our homepage by scrolling to the bottom and looking for the ‘Newsletter Sign-Up’ button.
We’re always looking for interesting articles in the steel industry too, so feel free to get in touch with your news, and we’ll try to feature it.
On June 12, 918, Aethelflaed ‘Lady of the Mercians’ (and daughter of Alfred the Great) took her last breath in Tamworth – the capital of the ancient kingdom of Mercia. To mark the 1,100 anniversary of her death, a number of events will soon take place in Tamworth, including the unveiling of this magnificent steel sculpture by artist Luke Perry. You can read more about these events here.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing was privileged to be asked to galvanize the stunning work of art, which stands six metres tall and took 20 people and nine cranes to manage through the galvanizing process. We now look forward to seeing its full unveiling on the Offa Drive/Saxon Drive roundabout outside Tamworth Railway Station towards the end of May!
Mick Jackson, IT and Marketing Manager at Joseph Ash Galvanizing said: “It’s always an honour to be able to process and galvanize impressive works of art such as this and this is certainly one of the largest we have galvanized. We appreciate that the sculptor will have put hours and hours of work into their art, so when it comes to us, it’s imperative that we do the artist justice and provide the best quality galvanized finish. We’re looking forward to seeing the statue unveiled in Tamworth.”
Here are some photos of Aethelflaed, before and after the galvanizing process at Joseph Ash Telford. You can also see more photos on our Flickr and Facebook profiles, as well as some videos of the sculpture being galvanised on our YouTube channel.
Yesterday was a special day at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies of the University of Edinburgh, with two great occasions taking place: 1) Andy Scott’s latest sculpture was unveiled, and (2) HRH The Princess Royal unveiled the stunning work of art. It also felt like a special day for the team at Joseph Ash Galvanizing, as our Telford plant was privileged enough to be asked by Andy Scott to galvanize the steel, and it’s wonderful to see the sculpture in its final destination.
Andy Scott’s latest sculpture is called ‘Canter’. Equine in nature, it depicts a heavy draft horse, reflecting the heritage of the Vet School, which was originally set up to help working horses. The School commissioned the sculpture as a permanent work of art, to be placed outside their new faculty building at their Easter Bush Campus, after previously exhibiting small scale versions of Andy’s famous Kelpies sculptures.
Andy Scott said: “I chose a heavy horse to reflect the original intent of the school, which was set up to help workhorses in the early 19th century.
“I am delighted with how it fits into the environment, blending with the unique architectural features of the building and the stone plinth.” (Source: bordertelegraph.com)
The sculpture – which took 10 months to make – is made from welded steel flat bar, of varying thicknesses and widths, weighing in at about 1.5 tonnes, at a height of 15ft.
Joseph Ash galvanized the sculpture at our Telford plant, by carefully dipping the complete sculpture into a bath of hot molten zinc, to provide the steel with a coating that not only looks aesthetically pleasing but will also protect the steel from the elements (thereby preventing rust and corrosion) over the course of the next 25+ years.
You can see a photo of the sculpture in the yard at the Joseph Ash Telford plant – just after it had been galvanized – to the right. You can also see two photos of ‘Canter’ and HRH The Princess Royal at the unveiling yesterday. Visit our Facebook, Twitter and Flickr pages to see more photos. (‘Unveiling’ photos by Pete Reid.)
Mick Jackson, IT and Marketing Manager at Joseph Ash Galvanizing said: “We recently asked Andy what first inspired him to sculpt horses, and he told us that he had won a commission to sculpt a large Clydesdale horse way back in 1998 and he became hooked from then on. As we’ve been asked to galvanize many sculptures by Andy over the years, and it’s great to see the final art in situ, we think we’ve become hooked as well! It’s always a pleasure to assist Andy in protecting his sculptures so that they can be enjoyed by people many years into the future.”
To see more of Andy’s work, visit his website.
To see/read about more of the sculptures we have galvanized for Andy, click here.
Welcome to the latest Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter. Hot off the press today!
To read a copy click here.
If you would like to receive a copy of the newsletter in your inbox each month, please subscribe here by scrolling to the bottom and looking for the ‘Newsletter Sign-Up’ button.
We’re always looking for interesting articles in the steel industry too, so feel free to get in touch with your news, and we’ll try to feature it.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing and the RoSPA Gold Medal Award
Joseph Ash Galvanizing has been handed a prestigious award – the internationally-renowned RoSPA Health and Safety Awards, the longest-running industry awards scheme in the UK – in recognition of our practices and achievements in helping our employees get home safely at the end of the working day.
We have won the Gold five years in a row (from 2014-2018) and we’ll be presented with the award during a ceremony at Hilton Birmingham Metropole hotel on Thursday, July 5, 2018.
The RoSPA Awards scheme, which receives entries from organisations around the world, recognises achievement in health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.
Mick Jackson, IT and Marketing Manager at Joseph Ash Galvanizing said: “Promoting health and safety and the prevention of accidents at work, at leisure, and on the road is a prime concern for Joseph Ash Galvanizing, so it’s great to win this award five years in a row. We are pleased to be continually recognised for our efforts.”
Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of qualifications, awards and events, said: “The RoSPA Awards are the most highly-respected in the health and safety arena, with almost 2,000 entrants every year, and allow organisations to prove excellence in the workplace, demonstrating a commitment to the wellbeing of not only employees but all those who interact with it.”
The majority of awards are non-competitive and mark achievement at merit, bronze, silver and gold levels. Gold medals, president’s awards, orders of distinction and the Patron’s Award are presented to organisations sustaining the high standards of the gold level over consecutive years.
Competitive awards go to the best entries in 24 industry sectors including construction, healthcare, transport and logistics, engineering, manufacturing and education.
There are specialist awards for health at work, environmental management and fleet safety, and excellence trophies for the best international, new entry, workforce involvement and organisation operating or based in Scotland. RoSPA’s top accolade is the Sir George Earle Trophy.
Headline sponsor of the RoSPA Awards 2018 is NEBOSH – the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health – for the 13th consecutive year.
Click here for more information about the RoSPA Awards.