A UK infrastructure products and galvanizing group, founded in 1824 in Brierley Hill, whose businesses protect steel and make road safety, utilities and security products.
Hill & Smith is a British industrial group with three businesses. Galvanizing Services protects steel from rust by dipping it in molten zinc, a process called hot-dip galvanizing, and also offers powder coating. Roads & Security makes road safety barriers, traffic products, street lighting and security products. Engineered Solutions, formerly called Utilities, supplies steel and composite products for the energy, marine, rail and housing markets. Together these businesses make many of the things that sit by the roadside, under the ground and on the grid that most people never think about.
The company's history starts in 1824, when Edward Hill founded Hill's Ironworks in Brierley Hill in the West Midlands. His brother-in-law, Henry Smith, joined as a partner soon after, giving the firm its name. Early products included fencing, hurdles, crank shafts and piston rods, and its ornamental fencing and gates were supplied to customers including Queen Victoria. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1969 and has grown both organically and through acquisitions.
Hill & Smith states its purpose as 'creating sustainable infrastructure and safe transport through innovation'. Safety is a visible theme in the group's UK galvanizing business, Joseph Ash Galvanizing, which says safety is not just a policy but a core value, holds a RoSPA Gold health and safety award, and runs mental health training and wellbeing support. The group also runs an annual Group Safety Leadership Award. These are the company's own statements.
The group office is in the UK, and the UK galvanizing business has at least nine plants. Joseph Ash Galvanizing sites include Bilston, Bridgend, Chesterfield, Medway, Telford and Walsall, and the Premier Galvanizing sites are in Corby and Hull. A galvanizing business in Widnes was bought to expand into the north-west. The group employs about 4,000 people worldwide (as at its 2022 annual report), most in autonomous operating businesses in the UK, the USA, Australia, India and Sweden.
A group like this employs plant operatives and supervisors, health and safety and environmental specialists, engineers and designers for roads and utility products, transport and logistics teams, and sales, finance and human resources staff. In its 2022 report the group said employee engagement was 61 per cent, up from 55 per cent, and that it had appointed its first two female managing directors; it also said it invests in apprenticeships, which is the company's own account. If you like chemistry, design and technology, or engineering, galvanizing and road safety are everyday examples of those subjects at work. The company's site lists current roles.
Website: hsgroup.com
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