Management award for Birmingham firm

JS Wright leads the way with ISO 45001 accreditation.

Birmingham-based mechanical and electrical building services specialist JS Wright has enhanced its reputation as one of the industry’s safest business operators after clinching a new globally recognised management award.

The 130-year-old company, which has its head office on Portland Street in Aston and an office in central London, has achieved certification to the new ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management standard, the world’s first international OHS standard, which has replaced its BS OHSAS 18001 accreditation for protecting employees.

As one of the first M&E building services providers to be awarded the coveted accreditation, global standards organisation BSI assessed JS Wright on its approach to health and safety against a rigorous and robust set of processes.

JS Wright’s IMS & Site Administration Manager Christine Wiesztort (left) and Business Systems Auditor Jane Dimmick led the programme to deliver the integrated approach to health and safety including the involvement of all 186 members of its directly employed workforce required by the new standard.

It took six months of working within the challenging constraints of the Covid-19 lockdown, which included the need for remote auditing, for the IMS team to successfully achieve full compliance.

Christine Wiesztort said: “The IMS team was extremely proud to have achieved this accreditation after overcoming a number of obstacles thrown at us by Covid including a lengthy sixth-month gap during the year to the award.”

Phil Leech, Managing Director of JS Wright, commented: “This is a fantastic achievement and thanks go to all involved especially Christine and Jane in what has been a particularly challenging time.

“Achieving ISO 45001 certification provides our clients, suppliers and employees with an added level of confidence in the way we operate.”

The IMS team is already preparing for the company to have all three of its safety, quality and environmental accreditations renewed in the New Year.