Social Purpose and Sustainability AT Horizon Platforms

At Horizon Platforms, we're conscious that Sustainability and Social Purpose are of ever-increasing importance to our customers, as they are to us as co-owners of our business.

We proudly demonstrate our commitment to quality and environmental management by retaining our ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditations. To add to that, we have successfully transitioned from OHSAS 18001 to ISO 45001 in Health and Safety Management, providing the company with the triple crown of ISO accreditations.

Horizon also continues to hold IPAF Rental+ Gold standard and has undergone an EcoVadis sustainability assessment.

We are committed to doing everything we can to enhance our social purpose, become more sustainable and reduce our environmental impact.

Celebrating our people, supporting our environment and helping to give something back.

Our People

As an employee-owned business, we prioritise our co-owners’ welfare. We regularly measure our success in this area using the Best Companies engagement model and have been awarded their two star “outstanding place to work” accreditation in 2022. We proactively work on the feedback from our co-owners to make Horizon an even more fantastic place to work. Last year we focused on addressing work-life balance feedback, and this year we focus on raising diversity awareness across our co-owner team.

Environment

Following our recent EcoVadis assessment, a working party is currently formulating a structured plan to assess and reduce our impact on the environment, including but not limited to carbon emissions, general resource usage and waste production.

Giving Something Back

We continue to strive to enhance our social purpose through supporting our local communities. We have a Charity & Volunteering Policy which encourages each co-owner to volunteer their time and effort to support local initiatives. We also select a partner charity each year, voted for by our co-owners, and proactively organise a number of fundraising activities, with the proceeds donated to our chosen charity.

Sustainability at Horizon Platforms

Sustainability is increasingly important in the powered access industry as we all become more aware of the effect fossil fuels can have on our planet. With this in mind, we proudly provide our clients with electric and hybrid MEWP options, enabling them to reduce their carbon footprint.

Our electric options allow our clients to avoid using fossil fuel completely when operating the machines.

Meanwhile, with our hybrid MEWPs, the machines switch between electric and fuel power where necessary, reducing emissions. This means that you can use fuel power when needed whilst still reducing the carbon footprint of your work. We have also put many measures in place such as sensor-activated lights in our depot to save energy use, using Euro 6 delivery trucks for reduced emissions and route planning technology to keep delivery mileage as low as possible.

Plus, the high quality of our MEWPs means increased battery life and fewer replacement parts for greater sustainability.

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"We were delighted our procedures held up so strongly"

"Our fleet mix has been focused on low-emissions machines for a number of years, but we wanted to ‘take the temperature’ of where we were as a business and look at our impact more holistically. A strong sense of social purpose and sustainability has always been part of what we do, but we wanted a benchmark from a third party. EcoVadis were an ideal partner for this approach, with a tried and tested framework."

Rory Duggan, Managing Director

"We're committed to Environmental Management"

Environmental management is standard at Horizon Platforms, and we're committed to third-party auditing through ISO 14001. We believe in sustainable business - after all we only have one planet. Our fleet is primarily electric battery powered machines, and we make sure that as much as possible, we mitigate our impact.

Ben Hirst, Founder

Social Purpose Initiatives at Horizon Platforms

Community is deeply important to Horizon Platforms, whether that’s our supportive co-owner community or our wider community, which we like to support with charity initiatives.

Annual Volunteering Day

In addition to supporting Horizon Platforms’ chosen charity each year, co-owners can take a day away from the business to volunteer at a charity close to their heart. For example some of the team helped in the gardens and warehouse of Wakefield Hospice. While some have taken the chance to volunteer at animal sanctuaries. One co-owner took part in the Screwball Rally in aid of Andy’s Man Club!

Donating a Platform to Wakefield Hospice

To further help Wakefield Hospice, we donated a high-quality push around platforms for use in their donations warehouse. We also provided thorough training free of charge to ensure that Wakefield Hospital’s wonderful volunteers could use the platform as safely and effectively as possible.

Scafell Pike Hike for Andy’s Man Club

Our 2023 chosen charity was Andy’s Man Club, a men’s suicide prevention charity. To raise money for this important cause, co-owners and members of the Horizon-led partner network hiked the 3209-foot-tall Scafell Pike, raising £8,860!

Time for a Cuppa for Dementia UK

The co-owner team was delighted to take part in the 'Time for a Cuppa' initiative for Dementia UK, raising a tidy £157.67.

Celebrating Yorkshire Day Together

At Horizon Platforms, we prioritise bonding as a co-owner community, which is why we wanted to celebrate our northern heritage together on Yorkshire Day.

Amongst a delicious meal of pie and peas and a flat cap throwing contest, we also had the magnificent Roger Webster and fellow musicians giving us a sky-high serenade of the iconic Yorkshire ditty “Ilkley Moor Bar Tat” on his cornet whilst elevated on one of our MEWPs.

Social Purpose KPIs

Employee Turnover

19.56% (% of employee turnover in previous 12 months)

Diversity: Gender

42% Female and 58% Male (total co-owner team)

Diversity: Manager Training

17 of our managers have been trained in diversity & inclusion awareness

Contracted Hours of Work

13% part time, 87% full time

Employee Engagement

Best Companies 2-Star accreditation

Social Benefits: Health Plan

100% eligible and 100% membership uptake

Social Benefits: Pension Scheme

100% eligible and 92% membership uptake

Employee Ownership

94% of employees are co-owners of the business

Sickness Absence

1.71% in 2023 (vs national average of 2.6%)

Charity Money Raised

2021 total: £6,566 for Cancer Research UK

Charity Money Raised

2022 total: £5,434.67 for Dementia UK

Charity Money Raised

2023 total: £12,699.25 for Andy's Man Club

Charity Money Raised

2024 total: £1,561.07 for Dog's Trust

Charity Money Raised

2025 total: £6,907 for Shelter

Environmental KPIs

Total Recycled Waste

We recycled 36.5% of our waste

Vehicle MPG

Our average vehicle mpg was 10.3mpg

Electricity Usage

We used 194,786 kWh of electricity.

Gas Usage

We used 39,039 kWh of gas.

Carbon Intensity by Number of Staff

14.9 Tonnes CO2e per person

Carbon Intensity by Annual Turnover

0.052 Kg CO2e per pound

Carbon Intensity by Floorspace

0.8 Tonnes CO2e per square metre

Sustainability FAQs

What is EcoVadis?

EcoVadis measures how well a company has integrated social purpose and sustainability into their management systems. This is based on 21 indicators across four themes. These are:

Environment
Labour & Human Rights
Ethics
Sustainable Procurement

What is ISO 14001?

An ISO 14001 certification requires:

Establishment and maintenance of an environmental management system
Regular environmental impact and aspect assessments
Implementation of environmental controls
Monitoring and measuring the effectiveness of the ISMS

What is a Hybrid Scissor Lift?

A hybrid scissor lift offers two fuel options, diesel and electric, for whatever best suits your work purposes. For example, using diesel when needing to carry greater loads, then using electricity in low-emissions environments such as clean air sites.

These lifts have a long service life, which reduces raw material manufacture for the benefit of the environment.

What are the Benefits of an Electric Scissor Lift?

An electric scissor lift is an excellent environmentally friendly alternative to a fossil fuel such as diesel. The batteries of these scissor lifts last longer and fewer replacements are needed, which is fantastic for sustainability.

However, there are also additional benefits such as:

Less noise due to a lack of exhaust
Non-marking tyres which prevent floor damage
No risk of fuel leaks
Small and compact size

How Do I Charge an Electric Scissor Lift?

To charge an electric scissor lift:

Plug your charger into the AC extension cord
Plug the extension cord into an outlet
Check that your scissor lift is charging using the light on the battery charger

How Do I Extend a MEWP’s Battery Life?

It’s important to avoid letting the battery of your scissor lift run flat, consistently keeping the battery above 80% and charging overnight rather than relying on opportunity charging (charging as and when needed).

This increases the battery’s lifespan and prevents it from freezing at low temperatures, as well as making sure that the machine is always ready for action.

You can also expand your battery’s lifespan with Battery Regeneration Technology. See our blog on increasing battery life to learn more.

How Do Electric Scissor Lifts Work?

Electric scissor lifts work much like other scissor lifts. After the power source is turned on, the cylinders fill with compressed air or hydraulic fluid. When the air or fluid is pushed from one area to another, the cylinder pushes outward, causing the legs of the MEWP to push apart, which raises the platform.