The Leeds branch of national surface materials distributor IDS has been awarded the prestigious Diamond Award from parent company Saint Gobain for demonstrating exemplary and world-class commitment to environmental health and safety.
The award was presented to Raja Hussain, branch manager at IDS Leeds at the Les Miroirs Building, the Paris headquarters of Saint Gobain.
IDS distributes worktops, flooring, laminates, panel products, solid surfacing and wall panelling and there are 32 employees at the Leeds branch where sales reach £12m per year. Nationwide, IDS has 13 sites, over 500 employees and over 100 vehicles delivering more than 12,000 product lines.
IDS Leeds was one of only 17 sites around the world to be awarded a Performance Diamond, in recognition of building an exemplary health, safety and wellbeing culture through education, learning and communication and embedding it across the site.
Health, safety and wellbeing is a key focus of IDS’s business. The company invests significantly in employee training and equipment designed to safeguard the health and welfare of its staff. IDS is accredited to OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14001 with management trained to NEBOSH standards and goes beyond statutory legislation to encourage mental and physical health too.
For example, the company is currently running a Mindfulness campaign that provides a toolkit to help its employees improve their resilience and manage pressure from the demands experienced in modern working life.
Says Raja Hussain, branch manager at IDS Leeds: “To win this award from our parent company Saint Gobain, we are competing with over 1000 different businesses across 52 countries worldwide, so being one of the 17 winners is an exceptional accolade for our branch and our fantastic teamwork. We understand how world-class athletes feel, even when you win big you want to keep striving for more.”
This is the second time that an IDS branch has won the Diamond Award, with the Nuneaton CDC (central distribution centre) gaining it in 2008.
idsurfaces.co.uk
Some of the staff at the IDS Leeds site with branch manager Raja Hussain, front, holding the Diamond Award for world-class health and safety performance
