A-SAFE presented with second Queen’s Award

As part of the unveiling, A-SAFE offered some of their most valued customers an exclusive look behind the scenes of their world-class manufacturing facility. After welcoming guests, the day commenced with a personal tour of the company’s custom-built machinery. 

Guests were then led to A-SAFE’s brand-new ingenuity room for a presentation by Steve Grange, HSE Manager at Communisis, a global Communications company who have used A-SAFE barriers for numerous years around various sites. 

Guests witnessed live ramp and pendulum impact testing on purpose-built apparatus inside and outside the facility. A keynote speech followed from Logistics and Operations Entrepreneur and CEO, Josh Valman, who manages the ‘Go to Market’ for big brands including Unilever and Vodafone, covering areas from R&D, Logistics, Operations and Safety.

A-SAFE’s Directors greeted the Lord-Lieutenant, who received formal introductions and a welcome drink in the company’s Boardroom, before receiving a Directors’ tour around the facility. 

The day concluded with the Lord-Lieutenant presenting the engraved Queen’s Award crystal bowl and an unveiling of the commemorative plaque. 

The Lord Lieutenant said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be at A-SAFE today. The Queen’s Award is an internationally recognised kitemark, and it is the highest official award that any UK company can receive. It is not made to an individual, it is made to a company, so everyone associated with A-SAFE should take enormous pride in the recognition that goes with this award”. 

James Smith, A-SAFE’s Co-owner and Director said: “It is an honour to receive the Queen’s Award for the second time. For our efforts to be recognised again with royal approval inspires us to keep raising safety standards. The customer day was fantastic. We’re proud of our manufacturing facility and it was great to show customers the hard work our people put in behind the scenes”. 

About A-SAFE

• A-SAFE is the inventor and manufacturer of the world’s first industrial strength polymer safety barrier system, used in warehouses, factories, airports, car parks and other industrial workplaces worldwide. Made from a trademarked advanced polymer called Memaplex^TM, A-SAFE barriers flex, absorb impact forces from heavy vehicles, then reform to their original shape.
• A-SAFE clients include Nestlé, Coca-Cola, BMW, 3M, Heathrow Airport, Unilever, Amazon and Jaguar Land Rover.
• The company was formed in Halifax, UK in 1984 and now has 16 subsidiaries in countries including Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Belgium, Spain, USA, UAE, Japan as well as resellers in over 30 countries worldwide.
• A-SAFE won the Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2014, and again in 2018.
• In 2015, 2016 and 2017, A-SAFE was listed in The Sunday Times SME Export Track 100 league table of the fastest-growing international sales for British SMEs.
• In 2017, A-SAFE also featured in the HSBC International Track 200 league table as one of the UK’s mid-market private companies with the fastest-growing international sales.
• A-SAFE’s RackGuard product won the prestigious iF Award for product innovation in 2015, and their iFlex barrier range won the iF Award in the Industry/Skilled Trades category in 2016.
• A-SAFE worked with the British Standards Institution to sponsor and technically author PAS 13 – the first and only Code of Practice anywhere in the world for Safety Barriers used in Workplace environments.  
• A-SAFE rigorously test their products using an in-house Research & Development team comprised of polymer physicists, design engineers and electronics engineers. They are independently verified by TÜV, MIRA and other authoritative bodies, and compliant with PAS 13 code of practice.