At the time of year that is most known for generosity and giving, MVIS and Bartco UK are not ones to miss such an opportunity, and in true keeping with our general ethos, we aren’t ones to do half a job either. This is why, during the Christmas build up in 2019, team members from MVIS and Bartco UK embarked on a ‘giving mission’ that would seek to maximise the impact a simple community donation could make.

The idea, put forward by the company’s ‘moral compass’, Jon Larkins, was to ensure that our impact was felt across the community with a single donation, bringing happiness to more people than if we had just taken part in a traditional donation.

But why is this important?

Late in 2019, Matlock and surrounding areas in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire were hit by drastic flooding, taking some businesses local to MVIS and Bartco UK out of action – a tragedy at the best of times, but being so close to Christmas made this all the more worse.

This local crisis was felt by some more than others, but few felt the devastation more than Freya King, a young entrepreneur whose business is based in Matlock. Freya had prepared for months to open a children’s book shop, Toy Stories, only for opening day to coincide with the very same day that the River Derwent decided to burst its banks. Flooding the area her shop was located in and doing thousands of pounds worth of damage, a lot of stock and her brand-new shop was covered in 4 inches of water.

Freya had no idea when she would reopen, casting the immediate future of her shop in worrying jeopardy. However, in a move of incredible hard work and dedication, she managed to open only a few days later bringing the community of Matlock the children’s book shop it needed just in time for Christmas.

Initially, our plan idea was to simply respond to a traditional Christmas Present Appeal, which take place across countless charities around the world in order to deliver presents to children at Christmas who may otherwise not get any. However, in this move of altruistic genius, Jon’s idea was to not only deliver on the Present Appeal, but to do so with items purchased from Freya’s shop due to her extremely unfortunate luck, giving her business a helping hand whilst also helping the chosen Present Appeal.

Members of the team rushed to take on the duty of ‘Santa’, which fell as 2 separate tasks – purchasing the items from Matlock town centre and then delivering them. Responsible for the purchasing task and keeping true to their job titles, Bec, Bartco UK’s Purchasing & Stock Supervisor and Pip, Purchasing Assistant, were granted the task of the shopping spree.

Upon arriving at Toy Stories, the reasons for us being there were explained to Freya. Despite the hardship she has seen recently, she offered us a discount on the basis that the items were for charity in an incredible show of generosity and warmth, allowing us to get a few extra books and toys to max out our budget and help make a few extra children’s Christmas special.

But this was only half the task at hand. With Freya’s donation by way of discount, this made the job of delivering these gifts even more important as it was no longer just our donation – we needed the right person to do the job of delivering and who else would have been better than our very own Santa Claus himself – Mr Jon Larkins.

After taking a company vote, it was decided that the Salvation Army Present Appeal was best for us to donate to, with strong community links all over the area, we knew that any gifts donated would certainly go to a good cause. Once decided, Jon took off in his sleigh to deliver the gifts to an officer of the local Salvation Army who warmly accepted us into her home to make the drop off.

But the giving doesn’t stop there from MVIS and Bartco UK. All throughout December we have a variety of community and charity initiatives that are all aimed at giving back during this time of festive cheer. So keep checking back on our website for more details on what we’ve been up to.

Anyone wishing to donate to the Salvation Army can find more information on their website.

Continuing the festivities, on the 13th December, MVIS and Bartco UK took part in Christmas Jumper Day!

Raising money for the homeless, members of the team donated between £1 and £3 for the cause, helping to bring a  little bit of happiness to vulnerable people this Christmas whilst bringing festive cheer to the office.

Everyone took part in this fun excuse to wear those warm, comfortable jumpers that only come out this time of year, even Levi the French Bulldog! But between me and you, some of the team got into the spirit early and have been practising Christmas Jumper Day for a number of days in the lead up to today, ensuring that they looked their best and made a real effort to impress.

The ‘winner’ of Christmas Jumper Day here was almost certainly one of our new starters, Liam, who donned an elf costume and a Santa hat in a hilarious show of this fun side of himself. Liam wins even more points for his outfit considering he is one of Bartco UK’s Workshop Technicians, really bringing the costume to life.

Whilst Christmas Jumper Day is a bit of light-hearted fun for us here at MVIS and Bartco UK, it must be remembered that we are doing this for a very real and serious reason. Homelessness is no joke, especially during a time that is supposed to be about family and feature a little bit of ‘overindulgence’ – a luxury the homeless don’t tend to have. So, at a time of the year that is universally known as the ‘time of giving’, it is appropriate for us to give back to the community and do what we can for this worthy cause.

This isn’t the only community initiative that we have on the go this Christmas however. As a socially responsible organisation, we have numerous projects taking place this year that will help several sections of society. Stay tuned for more information on these, as they come to fruition throughout the remainder of December.

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Edit: For Christmas Jumper Day 2019, the MVIS and Bartco UK team raised £37.50. A big thanks to everyone who took part – every penny donated to Centrepoint Homeless Charity counts! 

With all the markets and events taking place up and down the country at Christmas, we are entering a very busy time for MVIS. However, we are never too busy to make sure we are doing our bit. For a number of years, MVIS have donated VMS-As in aid of Buxton’s 5K Jingle Bell Jog, and this year was no exception. In addition to this, 2 of our MVIS office team, Mizzy and Tom all took time out of their weekend to participate in the event, taking us into the Christmas period as we intend to continue; with generosity, hard work and of course lots of laughs. 

The arduous task of completing this 5k run on such a cold Sunday morning was made all the more impressive knowing that our team raised money individually for Blythe House Hospice Care,  a charity that offers free, individualised, holistic care and support for anyone in the High Peak living with cancer or other serious, life-limiting illness. The run itself involved participants running, walking, dancing, prancing, jogging or jingling their way around Buxton’s Pavilion Gardens to raise the funds for Blythe House Hospice Care. 

A fantastic day was had by everyone, with all those taking part going at their own pace. The important thing in these events is not where you finish, but taking part. It’s an old cliche but one that rarely has as much meaning as in this case. The very act of signing up for a physical challenge like this is easier for some than for others, but actually taking part is another accolade in itself, one that our team and everyone involved should be very proud of themselves for. 

Blythe House Hospice Care are already promoting next year’s event. If you want to find out how you can do your bit, or for any more information about the 2020 Buxton Jingle Jog, visit their website and be sure to make the most out of the early bird sign up discount! 

Road Safety Week takes place this year from 18th – 24th November and is organised by road safety charity, Brake. The annual occasion is the biggest road safety awareness event in the UK, with thousands of companies, organisations, educational institutions and wider communities taking part in road safety demonstrations, exciting events and information screenings, all with the focus of raising road safety awareness.

During Road Safety Week, the police often take the opportunity to conduct roadside checks of vehicles in order to highlight the importance of keeping your vehicle properly maintained, offering advice to drivers and running speed checks on traffic, with the message that speeding is a major cause of accidents and contributes to more deaths on the road than is acceptable.

Few causes mean as much to MVIS as road safety, being a central foundation for our business. Many of our ITS products are designed specifically with road safety in mind, covering road works, traffic management, speed enforcement and other general road safety concerns. What’s more is that not only does our business surround the importance of road safety, but so do our team’s lives, who are often required to go out into the field on highways up and down the country to conduct maintenance on our units.

With this in mind, it is of extreme importance to us that our own company vehicles are maintained properly, and this week marks a perfect prompt to run even more thorough checks on our vehicles than usual. Vehicle safety is an aspect we do not take lightly anyway, even on a normal day, with the company requiring our delivery drivers to perform daily and driver change fleet checks on all vehicles with no exception. However, during Road Safety Week, the MVIS team take this opportunity to do tremendously thorough checks that go above and beyond the already strict requirements.

Ensuring that all vehicle, road safety and first aid equipment is present and in working order, MVIS vehicles are certain to have had checks on their brakes, lights, tires, water, oil and other fluids, all as part of a list of 63 checks that employees must check daily before they can leave our premises.

You can do your part for Road Safety Week yourself in many ways, such as fundraising for or donating to the road safety charity Brake, or by simply doing stringent checks on your vehicles, business or personal.

For more information about Road Safety Week, check out their website.

As part of their ever-growing commitment to health, safety and wellbeing, MVIS has recently introduced their Safe Mind initiative.

MVIS, along with sister company Bartco UK, recognise Health, Safety and Wellbeing in every task they complete. Plainly put:  It is their most important value.

To ensure they keep staff, customers and stakeholders safe, just a few of the things they implement are:

• Daily checks on all units and vehicles before they leave the depot.
• Call ahead to the site traffic safety control officers in advance of site visits.
• Use Full personal protective equipment (PPE) and traffic management for every site visit.
• Risk assessments completed by delivery team prior to deployment.
• Near Misses Reported and Investigated.
• Monthly in-house toolbox talks.
• Distribution of site contractors H&S briefings.
• CSCS training.

MVIS have 75% of staff first aid qualified, in addition to 90% of staff having the health & safety CSCS.

The company also have 2 mental health first aiders, along with 20% IOSH trained team members to ensure all departments have someone who is fully aware of the H&S standards they need to meet.

Recently, MVIS were awarded the 45001:2018 ISO. As an SME with 19 employees across two companies, this is something MVIS and Bartco UK are extremely proud of.

With this accreditation, new safer systems of working, measurability, and continual improvement are in place to ensure MVIS get everyone home safely at the end of every single workday. This is communicated throughout the company because as General Manager Anne Ashman explains “We need buy in from the top down to the bottom, and everyone has an equal part to play.”

 

“There are two internally trained mental health first aiders, and how the company speaks about the impact of mental health is brilliant in order to raise awareness and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

“The construction industry has an alarming suicide rate in men and the work being done here to help was a hugely satisfying discovery to make when joining MVIS. The attitude to wellbeing is top drawer.”

Through their Safe Mind: Work Safe, Work Well campaign, MVIS are encouraging all staff members to always have a well state of mind, and if not, to come and talk to one of the in-house mental health first aiders.

Anne added:

“We aim to make sure that our staff always work in a safe manner, be it on site or in the office, and if they do then they will have a far greater potential for being well both physically and mentally.

“Staff wellbeing can only be enhanced by the peace of mind that comes with knowing we have trained mental health first aiders, and a ‘safety first’ attitude for both on and off-site works.”

“We may be an SME, but we believe in leading the way. So, why shouldn’t we promote and encourage the same values and targets as the large construction companies we work with? As an SME it is equally important to get the message across, if not more important. We have less resources, so need to ensure the whole team look out for both each other, and external parties.”

Here at MVIS, we pride ourselves on our reputation for quality products and customer service. Recently, alongside sister company Bartco UK, we became one of the first companies in the Highways sector to achieve the ISO 45001:2019 accreditation for Health and Safety Management.

 

Dedicated to offering the best service to our customers, here at MVIS, we are constantly looking for ways to make further improvements to quality and efficiency across all aspects of the business. We take a holistic approach to health and safety, combining ISO 45001 with our extensive internal safety procedures and continuous training opportunities.

This new accreditation is incredibly important us, with its focus on employee safety and working environments. Due to the nature of the work undertaken by many of our engineers across highways, vehicle management, crowd safety and construction, safety is paramount in transporting and erecting our units.

The accreditation is audited by NQA, and involved a series of comprehensive site visits and a thorough review of documented procedures, to ensure that all procedures are outlined and followed.

As part of MVIS’ health and safety management policy;

• Daily checks are completed on all units and vehicles before they leave the depot.

• The team rings the site traffic safety control officer (TSCO) in advance of arrival and checks that it is safe to do so.

• Full personal protective equipment (PPE) and traffic management is used, as appropriate for the road speed.

• The team observes paperwork and risk assessments completed by the delivery team prior to starting any deployment.

• Deployment on site is done in a safe manner and all site rules are adhered to.

General Manager, Anne Ashman said: “Earning this accreditation means we now have a recognised fully integrated management system, as well as a stamp of approval that we work in a quality manner, with health & safety as a priority and prevalence as well as working in an environmental way.

“The company culture and values revolve around quality and service, and the 45001 accreditation is another undeniable display that we drive our values through our operations every day.”

ISO 45001:2018 joins our portfolio of industry awards and accreditations including; 14001:2015 Environmental Management and 9001: 2015 Quality Management. By completing the three ISO accreditations we have created full Integrated Management Systems, so you can be confident in the knowledge that we provide high quality products and trusted solutions that comply with the highest industry standards.

To find out more about hiring our ITS products and integrated solutions, call out expert team on 01629 580 570 or email us sales@m-vis.co.uk. To keep up to date with the latest news from MVIS, follow us on Twitter @MVISLtd.