August 2008 issue - Weir Minerals

http://groupintranet.weir.co.ukWeir Bulletin 17Business People ImprovementLong Service AwardsOver 200years ofservice werecelebratedrecently by six Weir Valves andControls UK employees at a dinnerand presentation of Long ServiceAwards in Huddersfield. 40 yearservice awards were made bymanaging director Neil Williams toJohn Skilbeck, Ashley Crossland,Alyson Benson and Steve Brookeand 25 year awards to Nick Russelland Mike Cowell, pictured withtheir partners.Earlier in the year, Geoff Firth, asenior draftsman in the engineeringdepartment, celebrated hisretirement of 15 years service atlunch with work colleagues wherehe was presented with gifts byengineering director TerenceScrutton.Weir Minerals Indiasupport localcommunitySuccessfulapprenticeshippartnershipWeir MineralsIndia aims toimprove thequality of lifefor all its stakeholders through aseries of initiatives that provide aplatform for employees to helptheir communities. Employeeshave named the initiatives WeirCares and these fall into threecategories.‘We @ Weir’ focuses on workplace initiatives and identifiesemployees and family members asthe beneficiary group.In 2007 employee educationprogrammes were introduced forall shop floor employees. This yearthe planned educationprogrammes consist of basiccomputer training, an advancedcourse in English and personalitydevelopment programmes.Health awareness and preventivehealth care was launched in 2007and is continuing to developthroughout 2008. The programmeincludes initiatives to train shopfloor employees and facilitate themto educate their communitymembers.Employee engagementprogrammes have been set up toallow employees and their familiesto celebrate a day of culturalprogrammes and events.‘WEIR 4 U’ focuses oncommunity outreach initiatives andidentifies society and thecommunity as the beneficiarygroup. Child labour, education andhealth are the areas identified byWeir 4 U for the year 2008.During 2007 a school wasadopted under the National ChildLabour Project (NCLP). The schoolfunctions in a community centreadjacent to a slum which targetschild labourers aged between 4and 14. The aim is to help childrenthrough active involvement in theirupbringing by providing betterfacilities, visiting and interactingwith them and their parents,supporting coaching, assisting withteaching equipment, books,clothes and also by providingfinancial support for children andtheir carers. In order to meetfinancial requirements, a specialfund was set up in May withcontributions from Weir MineralsIndia and its employees.An industrial training institutewas identified for mentoring andguiding youngsters throughvarious planned activities as part ofthe youth mentoring programme.Employees devote their personaltime towards this initiative.A blood donation camp,organised in the factory during2007, will continue on an annualbasis.A tracking team is also in place tomonitor and evaluate the progressof ‘We @ Weir ‘ and ‘Weir Cares’ asthe company continues to identifyother actions to support sociallyresponsible initiatives on anongoing basis.Alloa apprentices DavidBridgeman, Adam Dowd, StuartRice, Neil Paterson and LewisIrvine have successfullycompleted their first year training.They all achieved thequalifications – SVQ Level 2Performing EngineeringOperations and NationalCertificate in MechanicalEngineering – during acomprehensive and intense 36week training programme.The successful partnershipbetween Weir Power & Industrialand East Kilbride Group TrainingCentre is now entering its tenthyear, during which 34 apprenticeshave undergone training.Training advisor Jim Lewarscontinues supporting theapprentices in Alloa for theremaining three years of theirapprenticeship which culminatesin an SVQ Level 3 in MechanicalManufacturing and an HNC inMechanical Engineering.