Well, what to say about 2020? It has certainly been different! The events of this year have affected every person and business worldwide in some shape or form and it is safe to say there have been many challenges along the way.
The Global pandemic has meant that TJ has had to do many things differently in order to remain operational, but we did it; providing essential waste disposal services to many businesses and haulage and aggregates services to the construction and infrastructure industries.
We couldn’t have done it without the support and understanding of our clients and the hard work and loyalty of our staff. They’ve all been great at adapting to slight changes to services and huge changes to working practices to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all involved.
This was a huge priority for TJ. Our set-up and huge call volumes meant that work couldn’t be done from home, so TJ ensured that the offices and work environments were made COVID-secure to protect their staff and any visitors on-site.
We put many measures in place, including respacing desks and workstations to ensure 2m distancing, hand sanitising stations throughout, one way corridor systems, 1-person policies for WC and kitchen use and we also provided all staff with their own TJ-branded face masks.
Risk assessments have been completed for vehicles, waste facilities, quarries, machines and offices to ensure safety in all areas and so that the staff in the different locations understand what is expected of them and what is now in place to protect them. For customer deliveries, our drivers now carry out a contact-free service, meaning they no longer hand over their tablet device for signing. This new process will be in place for the foreseeable future.
TJ has recorded the highest number of skip bookings in our history! With all the extra time at home, people must have been busy undertaking home and garden projects! TJ even purchased 80 new skips to maintain excellent service levels and ensure the additional demand was met.
TJ has had a very successful year within the golfing sector, winning several contracts to undertake projects at golf clubs in the local area. January saw us complete a project at Skylark Golf & Country Club, which involved raising and improving a bund that surrounds the existing compound to make it more aesthetically pleasing.
We also continued on with our long-term project at Stoneham Golf Club, where we have been tasked with creating an enhanced and modern driving range and practice facility. We have also just commenced a project at Littlehampton Golf Club to modify and improve three of their 18 holes, as well as construct a new practice ground for club members’ and visitors’ use.
TJ has donated a range of free products and services to a number of organisations in the local area this year. We provided free waste disposal to the Final Straw Foundation, a charity dedicated to highlighting the impact of plastic pollution and to the Moving On Project Portsmouth, a charity that helps families or individuals that are experiencing financial hardship whilst setting up their first home. We also donated Rock Chalk to Butser Ancient Farm for visiting childrens’ educational use and made a donation to a crowdfunding project set up to support creatives in the Portsmouth area who have experienced hard times since COVID-19 hit in the UK.
This year has seen TJ shortlisted for two health and safety awards. The first was the IIRSM Risk Initiative of the Year Award 2020 for successfully implementing a new annual staff training event, which has significantly improved health and safety practices throughout the organisation. The second was SHE’s Rising Star of the Year Award 2020, which saw TJ’s Health & Safety Compliance Supervisor, Jack MacFarlane, shortlisted for successfully implementing new health and safety initiatives within the organisation.
TJ Waste was awarded SafeContractor accreditation after successfully passing an audit that was carried out by the awarding body Alcumus SafeContractor, whose aim is to build a better working world for everyone, one that’s safer, healthier and stronger. SafeContractor delivers a tailored health and safety accreditation that allows contractors to showcase their capabilities to potential customers.
Earlier in the year, TJ won the Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award, an independent seal of excellence that recognises businesses for delivering exceptional experiences, as rated by real customers. Created by Feefo, Trusted Service is awarded to businesses that use Feefo to collect genuine reviews and insights. Businesses meeting the high standard, based on the number of reviews they have collected and their average rating, receive the award.
Feefo have given Platinum Trusted Service awards to businesses who have achieved Gold standard for three consecutive years, which TJ has. The Feefo Gold Trusted Service award recognises those who have collected at least 50 Feefo reviews in a year, and have achieved a service rating of at least 4.5.
Hythe Quarry is split into 3 phases, so each ‘phase’ can be quarried at different times, increasing efficiency as when one phase is complete, it can be refilled whilst the next phase is being quarried. TJ completed the dig of Phase 1 in the summer and has started refilling, whilst simultaneously commencing Phase 2. The eventual aim is to restore the entire site to arable land. To ensure this outcome, TJ will only be filling the space with inert soil, which will promote growth in the future.
TJ Transport has won a five-year, multi-million pound contract to move aggregates and asphalt in the central south coast area on behalf of Tarmac, the UK’s largest supplier of construction materials. This involves TJ undertaking all of Tarmac’s haulage work in the areas between Brighton and Bournemouth, which equates to hundreds of thousands of tonnes of aggregates per annum.
TJ Waste has been awarded a £7.2m contract by Southampton City Council (SCC) to provide commercial waste disposal services. The three-year contract will see the commercial services arm of SCC, which provides waste management services to local businesses, dispose of waste at TJ’s state-of-the-art Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in central Southampton and the waste will go down the recycling and energy from waste routes from there.
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