NDSR’s facilities manager Mark Woodham, left, and assistant Gregg Parsons-Dorman with the magnetic sweeper that has helped nail the hospital car park’s puncture problems.
Magnetic Sweeper Nails Deflating Car Park Issues
1 month ago 
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A magnetic sweeper and some steely determination have produced positive results as the team at a Surrey animal hospital aims for a clean sweep in tidying up its outdoor area and protecting the environment.
The team at Linnaeus-owned North Downs Specialist Referrals (NDSR) were quick to respond after clients, staff and other firms on the same commercial development in Bletchingley reported a series of deflating incidents.
NDSR’s facilities manager Mark Woodham promptly invested in a magnetic sweeper so he and assistant Gregg Parsons-Dorman could begin regularly sweeping the site in a bid to reduce the number of flat tyres being reported.
Mark explained: “We share the development with eight other local businesses and we’ve all experienced a lot of punctures and flat tyres.
“One member of staff here told me he’s spent around £1,000 in the past 18 months on new tyres for his SUV.
“However, since we started using the magnetic sweeper, the situation has been transformed and the problem pretty much solved.
“We’ve been regularly going around and sweeping the area with the magnet picking up all sorts of nails, screws and fragments of metal.
“It has been a tremendous success and must be the best £100 we’ve spent!
“Everyone working on the development or visiting it is a lot happier and there have hardly been any problems since we began sweeping.
“In fact, we only need to have a sweep once a month now because it has worked so well.
“We still pick up a few things but nothing like the collection of metals we used to find.”
Part of the project to prevent punctures also sees Mark and the team helping to ensure staff car tyres are at their optimum pressure which, in turn, helps with each vehicle’s CO2 emissions – fitting perfectly with NDSR’s commitment to eco-friendly methods and increased sustainability.
The popular animal hospital is celebrating its fifth year of recognition by national accreditation scheme Investors in the Environment (iiE).
The iiE praised NDSR for its “outstanding” efforts to create an environmentally friendly workplace and rewarded the hospital with its ultimate Green award.
The Green award is iiE’s highest accolade and is awarded to companies which have made significant reductions in energy use and waste, along with increases in efficiency, recycling and sustainability.
Gregg leads the environmental team at NDSR, with the official iiE report into the hospital’s green campaign saying: “Excellent reductions have been achieved in a number of measured resources despite a large increase in staff numbers and caseload.
“There has also been excellent staff engagement with sustainability initiatives across the organisation and regular feedback to the green champion. The site visit also showed a friendly and engaged staff body, with a notably positive culture.”
NDSR also became the UK’s first small animal referral hospital to be rated outstanding by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) in recognition of its drive to increase sustainability last year.
NDSR offers specialist-led services in anaesthesia and analgesia, cardiology, dentistry, dermatology, diagnostic imaging, internal medicine, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, soft tissue surgery and spinal surgery.
For more information, visit https://www.ndsr.co.uk/home or search for North Downs Specialist Referrals on social media.
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