Tarmac, the UK’s leading sustainable constructions solutions business, has launched an employee led campaign to donate personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals and NHS and social care workers up and down the country.
Equipment including protective face masks, gloves and goggles are among the supplies being shared by local teams based at Tarmac’s network of sites across the UK from where the company manufactures essential materials for use in infrastructure delivery and maintenance for a wide range of projects.
Josh Bennett, a readymix technical manager in London, was one of those keen to offer help and support to healthcare providers after speaking to a good friend working on the NHS frontline as a doctor in a busy A&E department in Surrey.
Josh said: “When I found out that there was a shortage of PPE and particularly FFP3 masks in my friend’s hospital I knew that Tarmac would be able to help as we use them in quite a lot of our operations – the support from the local teams in collecting not just spare masks but safety glasses, gloves and overalls was fantastic and I was able to give my friend a bit of good news about the donation.
“It’s great to know that the equipment is making a difference to people who need it and that colleagues across the UK are supporting their own families and friends in the health service who are working so hard to look after people.”
Martin Riley, senior vice president, Tarmac, said: “We’re immensely proud of the work our teams up and down the country are doing to maintain critical national transport infrastructure.
“Their efforts are helping to keep the roads, highways and railways open so health and social care staff can get to work, emergency services can operate safely and key resources such as food and fuel can move around the country.
“Alongside this we know that many colleagues have close personal connections to the NHS and other care workers who are doing such a wonderful job in very difficult circumstances. After receiving requests to share our supplies from members of the team like Josh, we wanted to encourage the whole company to support local communities with any equipment that can be spared as we all pull together to take care of one another at this critical time.”
The campaign has quickly been embraced by employees across Tarmac who have already supplied PPE to hospitals, GP surgeries and care homes in counties including South Lanarkshire, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Surrey.
