Putting SHEQ at the heart of our commitment to continuous improvement

06/04/2022
Putting SHEQ at the heart of our commitment to continuous improvement

SHEQ is a critical element of operational best practice for both BES and our clients. As a company that designs and delivers critical projects, often in live environments, our commitment is to ensure safety is achieved by choice, not by chance.

The role of the SHEQ department is not only focused on safety, we are also responsible for environmental best practice, quality assurance and health and wellbeing. All these elements are essential and interconnected aspects of both our operational management and our company culture. We strive for continuous improvement and achievement beyond our clients’ expectations.

As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we have implemented a number of initiatives recently focusing on safety, quality assurance, environmental goals, health and wellbeing; all of which will contribute to the successful delivery of our projects. In light of our significant growth, we are also expanding our SHEQ team, with the appointment of our new senior health and safety advisor, who is joining us this month, as well as the recruitment of an internal quality auditor. These appointments and initiatives will build on the current high expectations of the BES and our Clients and ensure we enhance our right first time promise to clients.

Safety

We work on a variety of projects, some of which are design only and others with design and build requirements. Following our involvement within the Kick Off Meeting, were we look to identify any possible hazards, environmental permitting considerations or our resource requirements for the project, another key role for the SHEQ Team is our involvement with the design risk management process. From RIBA Stage 3 design we will begin to review our designs for hazards and constructability issues. As such we complete a Safety in Design review, where we take into consideration the life cycle of the project; including, build, end user requirements and maintenance. The output of this process is the Residual Risk Register which is then communicated to all interested parties.

As a project moves to construction, it is vital that we manage the risk of all works, were we are acting as Principal Designer and Principal Contractor, we need to manage all contractors and their associated risks. We manage this process by carrying out our Plan Do Review (PDR) Meetings each morning. Additional our safe systems of work (SSoW) Review, undertaken by our highly experienced construction managers, ensures we gain a great rapport with our subcontractors. This collaborative approach has resulted in improved content, timeliness, and quality of RAMS, lifting plans and CoSHH Assessments from across our supply chain.

Over the past five years, alongside an exemplary RIDDOR score, we also successfully achieved ISO 45001 certification with zero non-conformities, and maintained CHAS health and safety accreditation. We have also garnered numerous client awards for health and safety, and have applied for a RoSPA health and safety achievement award this year.

Our investment in digital health and safety processes will further enhance this track record. Providing a faster, more consistent and more transparent approach to collecting, reporting and analysing occupational health and safety data, our digital systems will also help us to measure improvement. The data will be used to complete the trend analysis, with the aim to help us set SMART objectives and provide targeted training for both our team and our supply chain partners.

Environment

As we continue working towards ISO 14001 for environmental management, the certification process is helping to guide our aspirations and achievements in this important area. We have set ourselves the ambitious goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and have launched our carbon reduction plan to help us achieve it. This plan prompts actions such as enabling agile working and promoting car sharing for our team to reduce journeys to the office and site locations; as well as behavioural change and a commitment to reduced waste.

Our design team will also benefit from training to ensure we focus on embedding sustainability and reduced carbon emissions into projects at design stage, enabling us to extend our positive focus on environmental improvement across the upstream and downstream delivery chain.

We have also included plans to reduce the environmental impact of our own buildings.

Our aim is to set achievable goals year-on-year and report on what we’ve achieved so that we are accountable for credible environmental improvement.

Wellbeing

At BES, we know our multi-disciplinary team is our greatest asset, so we have launched a new wellbeing initiative that provides meaningful support for physical and mental health.

We already have a number of mental health first aiders within the business who can signpost people to sources of support should they need it. Our new wellbeing initiative will include a free medical consultation with personalised advice for improving physical and mental health. All information from the health assessments will remain confidential, but will be used to carry out trend analysis by various metrics, to ensure we implement any additional wellbeing support if a need is identified.

The initiative is part of our focus on supporting every member of our team, building on our company culture and aiding staff retention by ensuring every employee feels valued.

Putting clients first

SHEQ is high on the agenda for our clients, which makes it a key priority for us at BES and, as in every other aspect of our activities, we aim to exceed expectations. That’s why we’re investing in the systems, initiatives and people who will help us make a positive difference.

 

Our Clients

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