Ennis, who works at British Gypsum’s East Leake site, won the prize as part of parent company Saint-Gobain’s recognition awards.
Working with fleet technology manufacturer The Vehicle Group, Ennis designed a solution – called CoupleSafe – which has a three-phased sensor system to alert the driver if the trailer is not connected correctly.
“It has been great to be involved in a project which has resulted in a groundbreaking system for those operating lorry fleets, which will significantly improve vehicle safety,” said Ennis (pictured).
The CoupleSafe solution will now be rolled out to British Gypsum’s 200-strong fleet and could be adopted by the wider logistics industry.
Elliot Goff, head of sales and marketing for The Vehicle Group, added: “This has been an exciting innovation to work on with British Gypsum. The logistics industry has recognised this as an issue for many years but there were no products on the market to address it.
“With the determination of British Gypsum’s team, we were able to take the system from initial concept to working demonstration unit within six months. Well done to Kirk for his well-deserved award and we look forward to seeing this safety technology installed on all British Gypsum’s HGVs in the near future.”