Leading off-site construction specialist, Yorkon, has achieved international accreditation for its occupational health and safety management.
Part of the Portakabin Group, the company has achieved OHSAS 18001 accreditation for design and manufacture. The standard promotes a safe and healthy working environment by providing a framework that allows organisations to constantly evaluate and manage health and safety risks, significantly reducing the potential for accidents, helping legislative compliance, and improving overall performance.
Simon Ambler, director of Yorkon, said, “Off-site construction already offers significant health and safety benefits compared to site-based building methods. By taking a responsible and forward-thinking approach to health and safety management, we can reduce the risk of accidents and injury even further.
“Our aim is to ensure we maintain a healthy and safe working environment for all our staff, contractors, visitors and any individual affected by our operations on every construction site.”
Yorkon has worked on a number of small and large healthcare schemes, including a cardiac catheterisation unit extension at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage, a new maxillofacial unit at Harrogate District Hospital, and a satellite haemodialysis centre in Plymouth.
“This latest independently-audited accreditation gives our customers even greater peace of mind that we have robust and best practice procedures in place across the business and at every level,” said Ambler. “The OHSAS certification is a powerful tool that allows organisations to focus their health and safety management on internationally-accepted criteria. It is a pro-active solution to reducing risk at every level and further improving business efficiency.”
The OHSAS accreditation will be reviewed annually by the BSI Group, an independent third party, as part of a three-year programme of continuous improvement. Initiatives include:
- Employees at every level are involved in writing procedures, including the production and site teams, to ensure the most effective systems are in place and that everyone is fully engaged
- Health and safety procedures are promoted via bulletins and ongoing information campaigns to create behavioural safety awareness
- Objectives and targets are set and the results shared across the business
- There is an open door policy to health and safety and near miss reporting is actively encouraged
