Congratulations Bridgnorth Aluminium !

Recently the news media has been reporting about environmental health & safey incidents and the LME. Forgetting about the good works so many of our plants do for their surrounding communities. Here is a recent story posted on social media site on January 8, 2015 of how one aluminum company supported their local community:

Volunteer lifesavers in Shropshire have bought a response car, with the help of a generous donation from a local business.

Bridgnorth Aluminium has given the town’s Community First Responders £3,000. The money has been added to fundraising already underway and brought forward the purchase of the Honda CRV.

Co-ordinator of the Community First Responder scheme Ian Thompson said: “Whilst the volunteers have been actively fundraising in different ways, an extremely generous four figure donation from Bridgnorth Aluminium has seen the purchase of a vehicle happen far sooner than we ever anticipated.

“Our members now have a four wheel drive vehicle available for use in time for the winter period which is a bonus, but beyond that, a dedicated vehicle to ensure we are able to provide as much emergency cover as possible between our volunteers in Bridgnorth, in support of the ambulance service.

“Previously, the volunteers were reliant on using their own transport whilst ‘on call’, which has unfortunately occasionally reduced the number of hours they can be available.”

Simon MacVicker, Managing Director of Bridgnorth Aluminium said: “Bridgnorth Aluminium is proud to support local projects and initiatives, and we’re delighted that the donation has enabled the Community First Responders to purchase a dedicated vehicle sooner than anticipated. With two Bridgnorth Aluminium employees actively volunteering as First Responders in the area, this was the perfect opportunity for the business to give something back to the local community and by providing funds for the ongoing maintenance of the new vehicle, we look forward to supporting the initiative in the months and years ahead.”

Community First Responders are members of the public trained by West Midlands Ambulance Service in a number of assessments and procedures. They volunteer their spare time to be called upon by the ambulance service’s control room to attend a medical emergency in their area while a blue-light vehicle is en-route.

Congratulations to Bridgnorth Aluminium for their recent donation to Shropshire’s Community First Responders. This is just one example among the countless acts of goodwill companies in our industry perform every year. The APSB would love to hear any stories of companies in our industry performing acts of goodwill. Either by volunteering or by donating funds.

Social media has had a tremendous effect on our industry. This story was found on a social media site. History has shown that a small safety incident can become an international news story in a matter of hours because of the power of social media. The Aluminium Times magazine had an interesting article about social media and the effect to our industry. It can be found below.