Decade of drainage safety success wins President’s Medal

Drainage and asset maintenance specialist Lanes Group plc has achieved the RoSPA President’s Medal for health and safety after winning 10 Gold Awards in a row.

The accolade marks a 10-year milestone for Lanes in consistently achieving the highest standard in the RoSPA Awards, the longest-running industry awards scheme in the UK.

Lanes Managing Director Wayne Earnshaw said: “This is a special moment for everyone at Lanes as the President’s Medal is awarded for achieving RoSPA Gold Awards every year for a decade.

“All our people can be proud of their contribution to our effort to continuously improve our health, safety and wellbeing standards, on behalf of our teams, our customers and the wider public.”

The RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) annual award scheme is one of the most prestigious tests of occupational health and safety excellence in the world. Nearly 2,000 organisations, from the UK and internationally, enter the awards every year.

Lanes submitted detailed evidence and data about every aspect of occupational health, safety and wellbeing, including leadership, training, staff engagement, risk assessment, incident monitoring, and investigation.

Specific health and safety initiatives it cited included a wellbeing app and practitioner scheme that support more than 1,000 Lanes staff working for Thames Water, which won a Utilities Week health and safety award in 2018.

Lanes has also developed virtual reality technology for use in a 360-degree training theatre, thought to be a world first, (see picture below) and invested in new e-learning resources to support health and safety training across its network of 22 depots.

In 2018, the company’s utility division became one of the first organisations in the UK to achieve the health and safety standard ISO 45001:2018, while the depot network achieved ISO standards 9001, 14001 and OHAS 18001.

Group Health Safety Quality and Environment Manager Paul McParland said: “Excellence in health and safety is central to the quality of the service we aim to deliver 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.

“No organisation is perfect. We’re learning all the time. Entering the RoSPA Awards each year is an important opportunity to review our progress and work on embedding a positive health, safety and wellbeing culture, right across the company.”

Lanes is the UK’s largest independent drainage and utilities specialist. It delivers services that include sewer cleaning, sewer lining, tankering, and asset maintenance services to industrial, commercial and domestic customers, and across all business sectors, including utilities, rail, highways and energy generation.