RBG reaffirmed its commitment to achieving safety excellence as it celebrated its first annual REACH safety awards (Thursday 28 April).

Industry leaders and guests from across the north-east attended the ceremony at the Aberdeen Art Gallery, which took place on the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. Guest speaker for the evening was behavioural safety expert, Jason Anker, who was paralysed from the waist down due to an avoidable incident on a construction site in 1993.

Mike Mann, RBG’s group HSEQ director, said: “RBG places safety, unequivocally, as our top priority and our REACH awards are a great way to celebrate a year of excellent safety performance. We recognise that a lot of work still has to be done as we aim for zero injuries, but our employees can be proud of what they have achieved and I am confident they can build on this going forward.”

The awards recognised RBG employees and teams who, throughout 2010, went over and above the REACH initiative’s minimum safety requirements. More than 110 nominations were received from the company’s line managers and supervisors across its global operations.

RBG’s Triton platform team, contracted by Wood Group for the asset operator Hess, won the Best Safety Performance award. Since 2000, the Triton Team has delivered RBG’s expert fabric maintenance support, including access solutions, specialist cleaning and mechanical services, totalling more than 500,000 manhours without an LTI.

The Safety Leadership award was won by Bill Abbott, RBG’s group scaffold manager. Bill has developed new and innovative technologies with suppliers and is working on a number of new safety innovations to be launched later this year and in 2012.

Ross Webster, rope access technician, was rewarded for his two client safety awards from consecutive jobs and consistently high quality of work offshore and onshore with the Most Promising Individual Award.

The Incident Prevention Award went to scaffolder, Darren Hall, after his vigilant behaviour prevented a potential offshore incident.

The Best Safety Representative Award recognised Dmitriy Zoltov for his excellent dedication to safe working practices. His contribution to the safety tools system was above what platform supervision requires, and his safety management is of exceptional quality.

RBG CEO, Dave Workman, said: “Safety is at the heart of all our operations and REACH has helped engrain safe working practices in everything we do. Our employees strive to achieve safety excellence each and every day and their efforts deserve considerable praise. I am confident that recognising the achievements of those who excelled in 2010, will help us improve our performance throughout 2011 and beyond.”

Behavioural safety expert and guest speaker at the awards, Jason Anker, said: “I was delighted to speak at this prestigious event as I know that safety is of paramount importance to RBG. My accident was avoidable, like many that happen in the oil and gas industry, and I hope that my experience can help others bring safety to the forefront of their mind, no matter where they are working or what they are doing.”

Tags: RBG Limited