Joseph Ash Galvanizing – on a roll with OHSAS 18001
Joseph Ash Walsall also receives health and safety certification.
In April 2015 Joseph Ash Bilston was awarded OHSAS 18001, the health and safety accreditation from the British Assessment Bureau. This was in recognition of hard work to continually improve health and safety at the Bilston plant.
In May 2015, Joseph Ash Chesterfield followed suit, and was also awarded OHSAS 18001.
Health and safety has always been of the upmost importance to Joseph Ash Galvanizing, and the aim is for all plants to receive OHSAS 18001.
OHSAS 18001 is important for the following reasons:
- It reduces workplace hazards and boosts employee morale
- It provides a safe environment in which to conduct operations and business
- It is a framework for an occupational health and safety management system
- It minimises the risk of production delays.
We’re pleased to say that the latest plant to receive this excellent accreditation is Joseph Ash Walsall.
Well done to the team at Walsall for this achievement!
Watch this space for OHSAS 18001 at the remaining Joseph Ash Galvanizing plants.
In January 1989, Mandy Filkins joined Medway Galvanising Company – now owned by Joseph Ash Galvanizing. At that time Mandy was part of a small team and was covering roles such as telesales, marketing and secretarial. Fast forward a quarter of a century later and we are happy to report that Mandy is still a valued employee.
In the 26 years Mandy has worked at the company she has had roles such as Galvanizing Sales Executive, and has helped to grow the company’s successful powder coating arm. Mandy also became the Mono Hinge Gate Manager, taking on responsibility for the entire business cycle of this unique product, from marketing through to sales, purchasing, manufacture, delivery and after-sales care.
To celebrate Mandy’s long-time service with the company, she was recently presented with some flowers and vouchers from Steven Hopkins, Joseph Ash Galvanizing’s Managing Director.
Congratulations Mandy! 26 years is a great achievement!
Please note that all Joseph Ash Galvanizing plants will be closed for the upcoming bank holiday – Monday 31 August 2015.
If you wish to book any steel finishing services, or collection and deliveries before or after the bank holiday, please contact us on 0121 504 2573 or sales@josephash.co.uk.
Enjoy your bank holiday and here’s hoping for some late summer sunshine!
In June 2012 the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service submitted plans to demolish the fire station in Hirwaun in the Cynon Valley in Wales, in order to replace it with a new environmentally friendly, state-of-the-art fire station, worth £1 million. Permission was granted by the Rhondda Cynon Taf council, and the work soon began.
The new fire station was built by Andrew Scott Ltd, a construction and engineering company, who then commissioned Shufflebottom Ltd to make the steel frame.
Shufflebottom supplied almost 16 tonnes of steel to Andrew Scott Ltd for the build, some of which Joseph Ash Galvanizing was pleased to hot dip galvanize.
The new fire station is an interesting building because it was designed to not only act as a fire station, but also for use by the whole community. It also had to blend in well with its surroundings, which includes housing, industrial units and mountains. Finally, it needed to be environmentally friendly.
As well as being made of steel, the building – with its integrated training tower – also uses salvaged Welsh slate, timber cladding and two green roofs complete with grass that absorbs pollution in the atmosphere and reduces heating bills. The local wildlife was also considered in the design as the building includes bat boxes and a sparrow terrace.
Shufflebottom is a valued customer of Joseph Ash Galvanizing. We were more than happy to assist with this project and we were also thrilled for both Shufflebottom and Andrew Scott Ltd when they won a RIDBA FAB award for the building in the Spring of 2015.
Andy Scott is a renowned artist, known for his distinctive hand-crafted figurative sculptures, which are dramatically displayed as landmarks internationally and across the UK.
Because many of Andy’s works of art are huge in size and fabricated from steel, he regularly engages the services of Joseph Ash Galvanizing to galvanize and prolong the life of the sculptures.
Back in January we wrote about some steel horses which Joseph Ash Galvanizing treated for Andy. You can read about these equine beauties here.
More recently however, Joseph Ash Galvanizing also treated a six metres high sculpture which now stands outside the new Crayford Library in Bexley, Kent.
The sculpture is called ‘Propella’ and features a lady standing on a plinth with her arms outstretched, holding a propeller, wrapped in a spiral of swirls.
The statue commemorates the former Vickers Company factory which once stood at the same location employing 12,000 local men and women between 1914 and 1918, producing armaments for WWI. Interestingly, the famous Vickers Vimy Aircraft was also built there (the first plane to cross the Atlantic), and the plinth that ‘Propella’ stands upon is based on the shape of the Vickers Vimy engine unit.
The sculpture – which was paid for by the Crayford Town Hall Square developers and Sainsbury’s – also has symbols relating to the textile company David Evans which was also a prominent local business.
The sculpture is made from hot dip galvanized, welded mild steel.
Above, you can also see a photo of another horse statue which we recently galvanized for Andy. This stunning steel horse has now been installed at its permanent home in Scotland.
Andy regularly uses Joseph Ash Galvanizing services as we have one of the largest galvanizing baths in Europe at our Telford plant.
With Andy’s permission, we’ll continue to publish more steel sculptures as and when Andy asks us for our services. We look forward to seeing his latest works of art!
Welcome to a bright new world of colour from Joseph Ash Galvanizing.
Do you have any powder coating needs? Are you looking for long lasting, low-maintenance, colourful coverings for architectural metalwork, street furniture, fencing, gates and other steel products?
Look no further.
Whatever your powder coating needs, the Joseph Ash Medway plant* can offer a wide variety of durable powder coating finishes from metallic to textured, in a huge range of bright colours with varying matt, satin and gloss levels.
We have a full range of RAL colours available, and special colours can also be made to order.
A nine stage dipped pre-treatment package is also available, and all work can be packaged and delivered (direct to site if required) using our own transport fleet.
We can also powder coat other materials, including aluminium and brass.
The maximum weight for powder coating is 200KG, and the maximum size is 3.2M x 2.4M x 0.7M.
We are also accredited with the following standards:
- BSEN 13438
- BSEN 15773
- BSEN ISO9002
Contact us today to find out more about our powder coating capabilities, experience and pre-treatments.
Joseph Ash Medway offers new dimensions in powder coating colours, using optimal processes for outstanding results.
(* Joseph Ash Galvanizing Medway trades as Medway Galvanising Company)
Unique Roundhouse steel frames showcase at the Livestock Event 2015.
Roundhouse Building Solutions Ltd is renowned for designing and developing a uniquely round agricultural building which not only optimises animal welfare, but also significantly reduces operational and building costs for farmers. The company is a valued client of Joseph Ash Galvanizing and our Chesterfield plant regularly galvanizes the steel for the roundhouse frames.
When Roundhouse Building Solutions recently exhibited at Livestock 2015 – the leading event for the UK livestock sector – they asked Joseph Ash Galvanizing to showcase our steel finishing capabilities by exhibiting too. We were more than happy to attend in order to support Roundhouse Building Solutions and to display the superior quality and finish of the galvanized frames.
Because the roundhouse buildings are covered in a fabric canopy it is very important that there were no imperfections (rough or sharp edges) on the galvanized coating. Roundhouse Building Solutions uses Joseph Ash Galvanizing to galvanize many of these buildings because we pride ourselves on the quality of our finish.
The building shown in the photos was hot dip galvanized by Joseph Ash Chesterfield, and shipped directly to the exhibition at the N.E.C. in Birmingham for erection. You can also view a selection of roundhouse steel buildings here.
Geoff Simpson from Roundhouse Building Solutions said:
“To erect a full size Roundhouse livestock building at the National Exhibition Centre was a big promotion for our company and we wanted the highest standard of galvanized finish to display our steelwork to its best advantage. Joseph Ash Galvanizing have always delivered first class galvanizing both in appearance and finish. The steelwork always arrives on time and in good condition and the delivery drivers are a pleasure to work with. It may sound like a cliché but we really cannot recommend Joseph Ash Galvanizing highly enough”.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing looks forward to working with Roundhouse Building Solutions for a long time into the future.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing employees asked to design an innovative safety solution to enhance health and safety at our plants.
The health and safety of employees is of paramount importance to Joseph Ash Galvanizing, and concerns had been growing about the safety of team members in our plants working under large jigs suspended in the air by cranes. As a company we wanted to find a solution which would prevent workers being badly injured should a crane fail.
To this end, Steven Hopkins, the Managing Director at Joseph Ash Galvanizing set all employees a challenge to design a simple, portable safety solution, not involving heavy chunks of fabricated steelwork. To encourage innovative ideas, Steven also provided an incentive whereby the winning designer would be given £500 to donate to a charity of his/her choice.
After a very short time we are pleased to report that Lee Groves, from Joseph Ash Bilston, designed and fabricated some portable supports which will protect the safety of our employees when working under a jig.
The solution was important to Lee and throughout the process he asked for feedback from other colleagues in order to produce a solution that would be adopted in practise.
Lee has chosen SARA – the Severn Area Rescue Association – as the charity to receive £500 and Joseph Ash Galvanizing has donated the money in Lee’s name.
Not only has Lee helped to ensure the safety of his colleagues, but his donation is also helping to keep people safe on the rivers and land in the Severn Estuary area.
Well done Lee!
From YTS trainee in 1990, to Finance Director in 2015 – congratulations Richard Hall.
Earlier this year we celebrated the fact that Jackie Bates had reached 25 years service with Joseph Ash Gavanizing. It’s now time to celebrate another member of the Joseph Ash team who has reached this excellent milestone. Step forward Richard Hall!
Richard joined Joseph Ash Galvanizing straight from school as a YTS trainee office junior back in 1990. He attended day release college studying for his AAT certification and in 1995 he took up a position as Assistant Company Accountant. In 2000 he was promoted to Company Accountant, a position that he held until he was promoted to Finance Director earlier this year.
In recognition of Richard’s 25 years service he was presented with a Mont Blanc Starwalker pen.
Congratulations Richard!
The employees at Joseph Ash Galvanizing are lucky to be able to galvanize all different shapes and sizes of steel, which ultimately form parts of bridges, buildings, railways and fencing. Every so often however, the plants receive requests to treat steel for unusual objects or sculptures. This happened recently at our Bridgend plant when the team there was asked to galvanize an eagle with a 12ft wingspan!
Anthony ‘Fred’ Peacock of Marche Studios in Shropshire fabricated the eagle. Anthony manufactures sculptures from metal and has become well known for producing art in the form of dragons and aliens.
Anthony fabricated the steel for Steve Waite, of Johnston, Pembrokeshire, as Steve has a love of eagles. Steve wanted this sculpture to be at his home and the eagle now resides on a fallen tree made from four inch steel pipework, which spans 30 feet across Steve’s driveway on the entrance to his garage.
The tree that the eagle is perched upon was designed and fabricated by Steve and P.G.S. Fabrications in Johnston. Joseph Ash Galvanizing galvanized both the eagle and the branch.
Steve said: “The eagle is a sacred symbol for me and Native Americans, and I have lots of eagles at my home. I see this particular eagle as my totem. It also attracts lots of attention. My home is located across the road from an industrial site and many people stop to look at it and take pictures.”
Steve added: “I would like to say that all the staff at Joseph Ash Galvanizing handled my work in a very professional manner. I was very happy with the result.”
Elvira Brocher at Joseph Ash Galvanizing Bridgend commented: “It’s very interesting to see the amazing pieces of art that are sculpted by metal fabricators, that come through the yards at our plants. The shapes are definitely not as straightforward as the pieces of steel we general dip into our galvanizing baths – flooring, guardrails, fencing etc – however we love a challenge! We also love to see the finished products once they have been installed at their future homes, and because of this we’d like to thank Steve for sending us some photos of the finished eagle guarding his driveway!”