Member Article

Safety standards win gold awards

A company which operates some of the UK’s most potentially hazardous energy, processing and storage facilities has won a string of prestigious safety awards.

px group, which runs power stations, gas processing plants and fuel storage depots from Aberdeen to Port Talbot has achieved the accolades from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

There were Gold Awards for the Port Talbot Biomass Power Plant, which burns woodchip to generate sufficient electricity for up to 10,000 homes; the gas fired Stallingborough Combined Heat and Power Plant, near Immingham, which generates 6 megawatts (MW) of electricity and provides steam to the adjacent titanium pigment plant, and the Bramhall Fuel Terminal, near Stockport, which stores and supplies up to 900 million litres of petrol, diesel, oil, gas and kerosene.

A second entry by the Inver Energy Fuel Terminal at Cardiff Dock secured a first Gold Award – a step up from silver the previous year. It stores and supplies 300 million litres of petrol, diesel, heavy fuel, kerosene and various additives.

A fifth Gold Award in five years saw the group’s headquarters in Stockton, achieve a Gold Medal. Finally, after securing a Gold Award for the 21st successive year, the Teesside Gas Processing Plant, which outputs around 6% of the UK’s gas, was further commended with an order of distinction.

The awards will be received at a special RoSPA ceremony in Birmingham in July. Awards for the St. Fergus Gas Processing Terminal, north of Aberdeen, which outputs up to 20% of UK gas, and for the gas fired 188 MW Fellside Combined Heat and Power Station, which provides steam and power to the Sellafield site in Cumbria and electricity to the National Grid, will be announced later in the year.

An additional honour for this excellent record across all of its sites saw px representatives invited to Buckingham Palace, to join RoSPA in celebrating its centenary year. They met the Duke of York, Prince Andrew and enjoyed a royal garden party.

Mark Kenrick, Director of Safety and Risk Management with px group, said: “Our objective is zero harm to people, the environment and the plants we operate and our team put a huge amount of effort into achieving this. This hard work has delivered thousands of hours of incident free work which, in turn, has been recognised by RoSPA.

“A mention must go to all of our employees and contractors who work on our sites, following our safe working practices and looking out for each other in order to keep themselves, and the areas in which they work, safe.”

The RoSPA Awards scheme is open to businesses and organisations of all types and sizes from across the UK and overseas. Judges consider entrants’ occupational health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement. The awards are now in their 61st year.

Julia Small, RoSPA’s Head of Awards and Events, said: “These awards are the most prestigious in the world of occupational health and safety and held in high regard around the world, as winning one demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to maintaining an excellent health and safety record. Achieving the standard required is no mean feat.

“This is a special year in the history of RoSPA, and we congratulate all of our winners in this, our centenary year”.

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