Pledge Awards 2020

The British Ceramic Confederation (BCC) hold an annual Pledge Award ceremony designed to formally recognise the very best Health & Safety initiatives from across the ceramic manufacturing sector. It is open to all members, including Ibstock, Wienerberger, Forterra, Michelmersh, etc.

This year’s event, which was held on Thursday 15th October, featured a virtual presentation ceremony, along with a number of special guest speakers. As per previous years, Ibstock participated and entries were submitted for the Open Category and Individual Recognition. This year an Individual Recognition award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Company/Community during the COVID-19 Crisis’ was also presented.

Ibstock wins Award of Excellence

We are pleased to say our submission for managing Covid-19 was presented with the Award of Excellence in the industry. The judges commented:

"Companies have faced unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 crisis – Ibstock were quick to act and taking steps across the all areas of their multi-site operations putting measures in place to support employees and ensure sites were COVID secure before reopening, and continuing to evaluate and make changes wherever needed to keep everyone safe. The company and its employees have gone ‘above and beyond’ and shown true leadership in the face of adversity."

Asif Khalil, Head of Health and Safety, commented: "Personally, I am really pleased with this award as it just demonstrates how well all departments (H&S, Ops, IT, HR, Marketing) came together to deliver this success, and how this was echoed in the feedback from the business in the listening post. Below is a summary of the awards won by Ibstock for each category."

Here is a list of the winners:

Open Category:

Ibstock Group: Dynamic Risk assessment – Development of the DRA; the judges were really impressed with the bespoke training created
Ibstock Group: Strong Leadership and impressive response to COVID19
Ibstock Group: Steps taken to support mental health and wellbeing during COVID19
Knutton Quarry – Steps taken to improve pedestrian and vehicle segregation
Atlas – Development of comprehensive action plans and steps taken to reduce LTI’s
Cattybrook, Chailey, Laybrook, Swanage & Chesterton – Team work and control measures put in place for COVID19

Individual Category:

Andy Collard (Laybrook) – Covid-19 Champion; effort and commitment to ensure measures implemented on a daily basis
Peter Burgess (Laybrook) – Efforts of working during COVID19 period
Robert Willie (Laybrook) – Embedding a safety first approach and developing team with same mind set
Leighton Webb (Laybrook) – Improving safety on Laybrook Quarries
James Hennessey (H&S Advisor) – Commitment to help and assist factories during COVID19 start up
Karl DaCruz (Aldridge) – Work surrounding the improvements to ladders and steps around the site
Stefan Baddeley (Midlands) – Efforts in implementing control measures for COVID19
Mike Gates – Implementing the Technical Systems and Processes for COVID19
Stephen Unwin (Parkhouse) – Creating visors using own equipment for the NHS

We would like to congratulate all our teams!