Three Babcock sites gain international OH&S standard

Above: (left to right) Gary Edge (Head of Environmental, Health and Safety at Babcock Defence Systems Technology), Mike Stitson, Sam Stacey, Tom Lye, Yasser Khan, Jack Evans, Tom Sherman, Sophie Jepps, Emily Austin and Richard Drake (Managing Director at Babcock Defence Systems Technology).

The graduates were tasked with the business improvement project in March 2018, when the new ISO 45001 standard was released. The world standard aims to support participating organisations to continually improve its OH&S performance, reduce occupational injuries and enhance worker wellbeing.

With the support of the Bristol based Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) team, the graduates led the robust implementation of the new management system in accordance with the new standard.

The project sponsor, Babcock DST’s Head of Environmental, Health and Safety Gary Edge, said: “The team worked very hard on the ISO 45001 project and were pragmatic and realistic in their approach and with their help, the DST Bristol and Leicester sites have achieved the new ISO 45001 standard; a fantastic achievement.”

The certification lasts three years and is subject to mandatory audits every six months in order to ensure full compliance.

In its report, Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) which provides the assessment and certification for ISO 45001 commented: ‘The overall presentation of documentation was of a very high standard. The Safety Management system is written closely aligned to the ISO 14001:2015 with clear and concise policies, procedures and guidance notes’.

Babcock’s graduate team consisted of Tom Sherman, Project Management Graduate; Emily Austin, Business Graduate; Yasser Khan, Mechanical Engineer Graduate; Jack Evans, Manufacturing Engineer (former apprentice). Sam Stacey and Tom Lye were the key support from the EH&S team.