Babcock notches up five star safety accreditation at Appledore

Babcock’s Appledore shipyard has successfully achieved accreditation to both the prestigious British Safety Council (BSC) 5 star rating and the BS OHSAS 18001 – Occupational Health and Safety Management (OHS).

This achievement underlines Babcock’s ongoing drive to adopting “Best Practice” health and safety management standards across our business.

Targeting the achievement of the British Safety Council 5 star award along with full accreditation to BS OHSAS 18001, the Appledore team has driven engagement and buy-in down through the site workforce to identify, implement and enhance the site’s health and safety policies and influence the organizational safety culture. This enhances Babcock’s commitment to ensure that all staff can go “Home Safe, Every Day”.

Safety walk rounds and Visual Leadership Engagement on the Appledore site have been given a new focus and energy; environmental initiatives such as waste disposal have been reviewed and improved; and personal responsibility – including culture and behaviour – are being promoted through ongoing engagement, communication, training and development.

Delighted with the award, Neil Lucas, Head of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) at Babcock’s Appledore facility said: “We have undergone a detailed, quantified and objective evaluation of our occupational health and safety management system at Appledore. The audit measured our performance against a number of crucial indicators and we achieved the highest rating. Our successful accreditation confirms Babcock’s commitment to HSE.”

Craig Lockhart, Babcock’s Managing Director for Naval Marine, said: “Achieving BS OSHAS 18001 and the BSC five star accreditation is a significant milestone – it reflects the unrelenting drive of our HSE team and the overall commitment of the Appledore staff. The team should be proud of their success and the ongoing implementation of key safety and environmental initiatives. Safety is the cornerstone in all of our operations at Babcock and it is one of the reasons we are a trusted partner.”