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leading the way in safety at costain
Mr Peter Fisher, Costain Group SHE Director
Morrison Utility Services, the leading utility
services provider in the UK, has won a
groundworks management contract from
UK Power Networks worth up to £750
million over a potential period of 15 years.
The new contract will include fault
response, network enhancement and
connections services for the electrical
Costain is rolling out a series of
Safety, Health and Environment (SHE)
seminars for top management. Sector
directors and senior managers will
attend the seminars with around ten
planned for this year, the first of which
has just taken place,
In moving safety up the agenda this
year there is a particular focus on
leadership within the Group “and the
best way to demonstrate leadership is
for people to be seen as role models
and leading the way”, explained Group
SHE Director, Peter Fisher.
Peter, and external SHE consultant
Lawrence Webb, outlined the SHE
responsibilities of senior management
using Institute of Directors’ guidelines
as their benchmark.
“There is a legal requirement [for senior
managers] to understand their Health and
Safety responsibilities, but this course
goes further than this. Legal compliance
is a minimum,” explained Peter. “We go
into the other areas we would expect the
leaders of an industry-leading company
like Costain to promote.”
“Watching out for SHE-related topics will
be a key part of senior managers’ roles
when they make site visits. They’ll look to
see that the sites have the right resources
for SHE and if they are delivering things
that the business would expect.
“Our accident rate dropped again slightly
last year but we’re quite keen to move
it forward further and, to achieve that,
senior managers will have to be out in
front, driving the process.”
£750 million contract
powers up Morrison
utility services
distribution network in the
East of England and will
prioritise innovative ways of
working using technology
which improves the planning
and scheduling of projects.
Morrison Utility Services has
also successfully retained its
contract for refurbishing and
building grid and primary
substations for UK Power
Networks. This programme
of work is valued at £100
million over five years.
Basil Scarsella, Chief
Executive Officer for UK
Power Networks, commented: ‘We
are looking forward to continuing
our longstanding and successful
relationship with Morrison Utility
Services. The company plays an
important role in helping us maintain
a safe and reliable power supply for
more than three million customers
across the East of England. “
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Charles Morrison, Chief Executive,
Morrison Utility Services, said: “In the
current economy a growing order book
provides us with real opportunities to
invest in the future of the business. It
is essential that we continue to develop
our people and our systems to ensure
we can be innovative and respond
positively to our clients’ needs driving
year on year efficiencies.
“I am delighted to continue our
successful relationship with UK
Power Networks with these two
significant, long-term contract awards
for Extra High Voltage services and
Groundworks Management. They
demonstrate our competitiveness and
recognise our reputation for safety and
service delivery. We look forward to
supporting UK Power Networks’ new
owners and senior management team
in helping them meet future challenges
and we will be working closely with
them through a significant step-change
in the delivery of performance across
the company’s investment programme.”
April 2011
NEWS
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