STAFF at a chemicals company have donated a cash windfall to Teesside charities after clocking up a million hours without a recordable injury.

The excellent safety record at Huntsman North Tees meant workers were entitled to a gift, but they decided to do without, so that five charities could benefit.

"To put this in perspective, passing the one million hours milestone involved more than 450 people working for 15 months without a significant injury, and that is a marvellous performance by any standards," said Dave Wilkins, Huntsman Aromatics production area manager.

"To mark the achievement, we usually buy all of our associates a small gift such as a safety torch or a first-aid kit. "However, on this occasion there was a consensus of opinion that it would be more worthwhile to pool all the money to make some donations for deserving local charities."

It totalled £5,000, which was split equally between Teesside Hospice, Butterwick Children's Hospice, Hartlepool Hospice, Celebration of Life After Cancer and the James Cook University Hospital Haematology Endowment Fund.

Mr Wilkins said: "We asked our associates to nominate good causes and we got quite a lot of suggestions.

"In the end, we managed to narrow it down to these five charities.

"I was delighted to be able to present this money to them and all the charities they represent.

Everyone here knows what a fantastic job they all do and how much money they need to help keep up their excellent work."