We have won the Innovation Award in the prestigious 2017 Building Safety Group (BSG) Health & Safety Awards – another coveted national triumph.
And we were also named a finalist in the Sub-contractor Award and Best Use of Technology Award.
This follows last year when we won the BSG Sub-contractor of the Year award and was Member of the Year, highly commended for the South West.
Our Operations Manager Rich Brokenshire received the honour during a lunchtime ceremony at the Williams Formula One Conference Centre in Grove, Oxfordshire.
The BSG Innovation Award was presented to us because we had demonstrated innovation in our health and safety planning that has led to a demonstrable improvement in risk mitigation and worker well-being.
Our entry included creating an easily-accessible online technical guidance notes document covering health and safety, quality and technical issues for the safety netting, metal decking and stud welding industry.
It was issued to our clients’ site installers and construction managers and instantly available onsite through phones or tablets.
We also challenged industry practices as to how heavy and potentially dangerous metal decking packs should be positioned on sites. Historically they have always been placed nearest to the decking set-off point in a bay.
However, that meant a lot of dragging and manual handling once operatives were working away from the set off point. Extensive research and consultation lead to a simple procedural change to place the packs in the middle of the bay.
Challenging industry norm has cut the amount of manual handling and lifting of decking by an average of 900 metres per operative each week, thus improving the occupational health and well-being of all our site operatives.
We have also expanded our bespoke company software to allow for specific H&S inspections to be undertaken on site using a tablet on site. This information feeds back to our offices in real time
Mr Brokenshire said: “We are delighted to have won this award which we feel demonstrates our continuing commitment to driving health and safety standards to new levels.
“The construction industry can obviously be a very hazardous environment so we make site health and safety our number one priority and innovate wherever we can to improve matters.
“It is heartening, therefore, that our efforts to minimise risk and ensure everyone is working to the highest possible safety standards have been recognised by the UK’s leading experts in construction health, safety and environmental welfare.”
The BSG is a not for profit organisation which specialises in providing health, safety and environmental advice for the construction industry and has more than 800 members operating across 3,500 workplaces throughout the country.
The group’s third annual awards commemorate achievements and excellence in work-related health and safety performance by the group’s members.
We were earlier this year also named Best Specialist Contractor to Work With (Under £25m) and awarded a top 10 spot in the Best Specialist Contractor to Work For (Under £25m) in the Construction Enquirer Awards.
Picture captions
DRIVING UP SAFETY STANDARDS:
The SMD team at the Williams Formula One Conference Centre after 2017 Building Safety Group Health & Safety Awards ceremony, from left, Steve Orr – Training Manager; Mark Bell – Construction Manager; Rich Brokenshire – Operations Manager and Dave Mann – Construction Manager
HIGH SAFETY STANDARDS: SMD Ltd operations manager Rich Brokenshire, right, receives the Innovation Award in the prestigious 2017 Building Safety Group (BSG) Health & Safety Awards from BSG Managing Director Paul Kimpton