Mobile Mini UK, one of the leading worldwide providers of portable accommodation and secure storage containers, has furthered its reputation for safety excellence after being named the winner of the Covid-19 Response Award at the 2021 North East Business Awards.
The North East Business Awards celebrate regional achievements and highlight successful and innovative businesses doing fantastic things in the North East of England. For the past 20 years, this event has recognised businesses that boost the economy, enrich local areas and make the North East an exciting and fulfilling place to live.
This year marked a return to face-to-face ceremonies and the Grand Final was held at Hardwick Hall in Sedgefield, where 13 trophies were awarded to winners in several diverse categories. The ceremony was hosted by presenter Kirsten O’Brien and opened by Graeme Whitfield, Business Editor for Reach North East and Yorkshire.
Mobile Mini has a fleet of over 40,000 portable units for a variety of storage solutions. The UK division is headquartered in Stockton-on-Tees and supports 16 strategically placed sites throughout England, Scotland and Wales. The Covid-19 Response Award won by Mobile Mini was sponsored by North of Tyne Combined Authority. This award was designed to celebrate businesses that went the ‘extra mile’ throughout the pandemic and demonstrated excellence under pressure, not only helping their own company but also the local community.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Mobile Mini supported the NHS by providing hundreds of containers adapted into testing centres and temporary surgeries for NHS environments nationwide, as well as supporting the specialist Nightingale Hospitals, ensuring safe and thorough delivery and installation for all parties. Following the successful implementation of these testing centres, many units were retained by the NHS to be utilised for the vaccination rollout.
The business also introduced effective measures of high visibility PPE for drivers and fitters, with ‘physical interactions advised against and additional controls such as cleaning and hygiene stations introduced to help stop both personal and surface transmissions. Temperature scanning devices and health checks were introduced at each location and a policy to quarantine every unit for 5 days upon return was instilled before they would be deep cleaned.
Mobile Mini has won multiple awards for their approach to health and safety in 2021 including Being named ‘Safety Team of the Year Highly Commended Winner’ at the International Safety Awards. Three of Mobile Mini UK branches were previously awarded Merits from the British Safety Council this year and also rolled out life-saving defibrillator equipment to all of its branches for the protection of customers, clients and approximately 370 members of staff.
Andrew Thompson, Managing Director of Mobile Mini UK said, “Maintaining a safety record of zero major incidents over the past two years is an achievement in itself, but to do so despite the challenges of the pandemic is something we are very proud of. Our people have remained our biggest strength, with 32 internal promotions made last year alone. Mobile Mini has built a reputation for safety excellence and we are pleased that the ongoing efforts of our staff have been recognised with this fantastic award.”
This year, Mobile Mini has invested in new safety features on an upgraded fleet of trucks and has rolled out a new QR code initiative, Safety 365, to ensure no matter where an incident takes place staff will immediately be able to see it, sort it and report it. Once this happens, actions are tracked through a newly installed system with escalation points, reminders and overdue notification alerts making it almost impossible for a requirement to be missed. 7% of employees at the business are now qualified Mental Health First Aiders and the company has changed its approach to flexible working to better support work-life balances.