Balfour Beatty has received two prestigious national awards for its innovative approaches to safety from the Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA).

The UK's largest construction company was successful in the ECIA's 'Recognising Initiative in Safety Excellence (RISE)' award categories for 'Main Contractor' and 'Individual Contribution' for the development of an online 'Work at Height Tool Selector' and an innovation to reduce the risks presented by the manual handling of heavy cable containers.

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The use of ladders is a significant cause of accidents in the industry. Balfour Beatty's new selector tool provides information to site and project managers on all working at height methods so they can take decisions on the best form of equipment to use for each task. The tool exemplifies the latest national regulations for working at height.

Steve Wilkinson, a Balfour Beatty engineer, was also successful due to his development of a ladder rack attachment for use with mobile platforms which reduces manual handling of large heavy cable containers.

Allan Shanks, Balfour Beatty Construction Services UK HSE Director, said: "At Balfour Beatty our aim is to embed a culture of Zero Harm which consistently exceeds regulatory requirements and industry health and safety standards.

"The introduction of our 'working at height tool selector' and Steve's ladder rack attachments are great examples of how we are empowering and engaging our employees to keep themselves and others safe."

(CD)