Hull-based safety expert Arco has renewed its long-standing commitment to Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) with £75,000 worth of support pledged over the next three years.
The new agreement will raise Arco’s total contribution to £300,000 since its partnership with the charity began nearly a decade ago. The pledge not only includes the financial contribution but also the design and provision of specialist clothing which will help YAA provide its lifesaving emergency service to five million people across Yorkshire.
YAA needs to raise £12,000 every day to help save lives and keep families together longer. Its air ambulance flights, capable of transforming a 20-mile journey into ten minutes, ensure those who need assistance in the UK’s largest county get the help they need as rapidly as possible.
As an independent charity, YAA is reliant on the generosity of its donators to maintain and provide its vital service. Through its principal partnership with Arco, the charity will receive a £20,000 annual donation, as well as £5,000 of clothing and products taking the total contribution over the length of the new three-year partnership to £75,000.
The YAA team often works in extreme conditions and needs to rely on their uniforms and equipment to protect them. As experts in safety, Arco’s product credit will help YAA with essential supplies and specialist clothing for staff and volunteers, while the annual £20,000 donation will help keep its aircraft maintained and facilitate its lifesaving work.
David Evison, Managing Director of Arco, says, “Yorkshire Air Ambulance places the wellbeing and safety of people at the forefront of everything it does to save human life across the county and the surrounding area. As a business with its roots in Yorkshire and a dedication to safety, we are extremely proud to support a mission so closely aligned to our own; keeping communities and people safer.”
Katie Collinson, Corporate & Partnerships Manager of Yorkshire Air Ambulance, says, “We have been overwhelmed by Arco’s generosity since 2012 and we’re extremely grateful for the continued support. Like many charities and businesses across the UK, Yorkshire Air Ambulance has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions have affected our ability to hold fundraising events, resulting in a significant fundraising deficit. However, with support from organisations like Arco, we can continue our vital work.”
About Arco: What they do and how they’re different
Arco is the UK’s leading safety products and services company. Its core purpose is to keep people safe at work. It distributes a world-class range of over 170,000 quality assured, branded and own brand products, including personal protective equipment, workwear, safety footwear, gloves, workplace safety and hygiene products. It is unique.
Arco Professional Safety Services provide consultancy, training, services and equipment to manage the most complex and high-risk, high hazard scenarios. Specialising in working at height, confined space and respiratory management, they deliver solutions for those working in situations with the highest risk of serious injury or irreversible damage to health.
Headquartered in Hull, Arco reaches its customers through its extensive product catalogue, website and national network of retail stores. The company has sales of over £320m and employs more than 1600 people nationwide. Its 400,000 sqft National Distribution Centre distributes products to 25k customers in the UK and Ireland, dispatching 150 pallets and 8000 parcels a day. Arco makes it easy for customers to procure and issue PPE with services such as digital procurement, vending, a mobile issue unit, wearer packing and branded workwear from their in-house Clothing Centre based in Preston.
As the market leader, Arco is committed to helping shape the UK’s safety agenda in order to ensure workers go home safe every night. Through an extensive public affairs programme, Arco experts have contributed to some of the key debates on health and safety regulation, product quality and standards, PPE procurement and emergency planning.
Arco is committed to providing safety equipment that is genuine and compliant with relevant standards and regulations, Arco tests both its own product range as well as carrying out surveillance on other products in the market to ensure compliance. With a five-step product assurance process, Arco remains the only safety distributor with an independently accredited testing laboratory, this assisted by a team of specialists in their Xiamen, China office who support with sourcing, quality control and factory inspections. Additionally, it is a member of the BSIF Registered Safety Suppliers Scheme, and Arco experts sit on numerous Standards Boards.
Arco was the first member within the H&S industry to join the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) incorporating its internationally recognised code of labour practice into its own ethical policy and in 2010 became a member of Sedex, the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange. To ensure ethical standards are met throughout its supply chain, Arco carries out regular independent supplier auditing. Working with the ETI and other regulatory bodies, the company plays a leading role in helping to educate and eliminate modern day slavery across the globe.
Principles of sustainable development have long been embedded in the way Arco does business. Arco’s Sustainability Action team has committed to ensuring the business behaves responsibly in all areas, investing significant time and resource to identify ways to reduce plastics, packaging and recycling.
Founded in 1884 and with a heritage spanning five generations, Arco demonstrates traditional family values and is dedicated to its Corporate Social Responsibility policy. Arco is committed to help keep communities safe, inspire young people to achieve their full potential and to enhance local life, making the communities they serve better places in which to live, work and invest.
It does this through charity and community support, donating 1% of pre-tax profits each year. Arco also gives colleagues two days’ paid leave each year to volunteer in the community and the opportunity to partner with and sponsor community groups and charities, forming lasting relationships that support them in the vital services that they offer.