Member Article

Setting a gold standard for safety on Teesside

Teesside Gas Processing Plant, near Seal Sands, has received a coveted Order of Distinction following over two decades of exemplary health and safety performance.

After securing a prestigious Gold Award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) for the 22nd year in succession, Stockton headquartered px group – which manages, maintains and operates the gas processing facility – will collect the accolade at a ceremony in Birmingham this month.

The RoSPA Awards scheme, which receives entries from organisations from across the world, recognises achievement in health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.

px group, which runs power stations, gas processing plants and fuel storage depots across the UK - from Aberdeen to Port Talbot - also received four additional Gold Awards for sites in Humberside, South Wales and for its head offices in Stockton – which was also awarded a Gold Medal for securing a fifth Gold Award in five years.

With two more sites to be judged later in the year, the group’s zero harm initiative could yet deliver a second consecutive year where the company achieves a Gold standard across all sites assessed.

Greg Mitchinson, Director of Safety Health and Environment (SHE), Technical and Risk Management with px group, said: “As an organisation which operates some of the UK’s most potentially hazardous energy, processing and storage facilities, we invest a huge amount of time and resources ensuring our people and the places where they work are safe.

“Our objective is zero harm to people, the environment and the plants we operate and our team puts an enormous effort into maintaining our reputation as a proactive business, which continues to achieve the very highest standards. This has delivered thousands of hours of incident free work which, in turn, has again been recognised by RoSPA.

“I’d like to thank all of the employees and contractors who work on our sites for continuing to follow our safe working practices, and for looking out for one another, in order to keep themselves and the areas in which they work, safe.”

Julia Small, RoSPA’s Head of Qualifications, Awards and Events, said: “The RoSPA Awards are the most highly-respected in the health and safety arena, with almost 2,000 entrants every year. They allow organisations to prove excellence in the workplace as well as demonstrating a commitment to the wellbeing of not only employees but all those who interact with it.”

The continued RoSPA awards success comes in the same year that px acquired the Saltend Chemicals Park, in Hull, from BP, at which it now provides a comprehensive energy, infrastructure, operations and maintenance service for the 370 acre site. It will be entered for a RoSPA award in 2019.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .