Lanes Group in the finals of the Construction News Awards

Lanes Group has been selected as a finalist in the Construction News Awards for the second year running for developing cartoons that show its engineers how to work safely.

The initiative has earned the company, the UK’s largest independent drainage specialist, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, a place as a finalist in the Construction News Health and Safety Initiative of the Year Award.

Judges were impressed with an initiative called What Good Looks Like. It uses a series of detailed cartoon-style pictures to show operational teams the best way to manage a range of work site scenarios.

What Good Looks Like is a core element of a health and safety strategy for a new super depot in Slough, Berkshire, opened by Lanes in 2012.

Lanes Group Managing Director Wayne Earnshaw said: “Being selected as a finalist for the Construction News Awards in this category for the second year running reflects the consistently very high priority we place on health and safety.

“It’s good for us, and the drainage industry as a whole, to be recognised in these prestigious awards for taking an innovative and proactive approach to promoting the health and safety of our staff, our customers and the public.”

What Good Looks Likes images are combined with process maps that show supervisors how specific jobs should be carried out. They are designed to cater for teams with a wide range of educational abilities and to present health and safety messages in an engaging, instantly recognisable way.

Lanes Group was selected as a finalist for the same award in 2012 for the development of a new safety strop that uses the track rail as an anchor point for a personal harness used by maintenance operatives when working on station canopies.

In 2011, the company was a finalist in the Health and Safety Excellence category in the Construction News Specialist Awards. It has also achieved the RoSPA Gold Award for occupational health and safety three years in a row.

Lanes Group representatives will now give a Dragon’s Den-style presentation to construction industry experts.

The Construction News Awards are the most prestigious and coveted awards in the construction industry. There are 17 categories, covering every aspect of construction, from training to technology, ensuring the whole supply chain is recognised for excellence. Winners will be announced on July 11 2013.

Lanes opened its new super depot in Slough, Berkshire, to manage a major new contract to provide maintenance, repair and renewal services for drainage systems across a large part of South East England.

What Good Looks Like supports Lanes Group’s strategy of setting the highest health and safety standards in the drainage industry – and will be rolled out across other operations.