Company History
The organisation began life in the 1930s as the "Halifax Workshop for the Blind" employing people with severe visual impairment - the majority of whom were without any sight at all. For many years the work carried on at the workshop was a mixture of manual crafts - basket making, rush and cane seating, mop, brush and coir mat manufacturing were also typical of work undertaken. These were regarded as skilled trades and rewarded accordingly, with employees being regarded as craftsmen/women and paid appropriately.
Back in the early days as the Halifax Workshop For The Blind we made coir matting.
The first ever coaster design produced by ISCAL
But time moved on and changes and modernisation of industrial practices began to affect the Workshops ability to compete - one by one the old crafts were discontinued with the remaining elements of the traditional crafts being phased out in the mid 1970s and replaced with the present Tissue printing section. Around this period employment was opened up to include people with a wide range of disabilities with the current workforce reflecting this change. The underlying principle being that employees must be capable of contributing effectively to the aims and needs of the business.
In 1990 the print side was expanded to include Offset printing specialising in the short run production of business stationery etc. A microfiche department was set up in 1997 to service the local authority demand for this facility with this section providing work for three members of staff. ISCAL had a storage facility currently serving the needs of a well known confectionery company and a small but very important section carries out light assembly and distribution work listing a major insurance plc amongst its clients. The Tissue printing section remains the main trade and services the catering and confectionery trades with products ranging from coasters and dripmats, carvery hot plate holders etc. to layer pads for chocolate boxes and similar products. Today's workforce has the honour and privilege to have contributed to ISCAL attaining the status of an Investor In People company.
