What does RoSPA Awards success really look like?
Cavendish Nuclear has a proud history of winning RoSPA Awards and has used the scheme to help build safety into the heart of its operations, including driving for work. Jane Warren reports.
“It is all about understanding what your risks really are,” says Paul Unsworth, Safety, Health, Environment and Radiological Protection Director for Cavendish Nuclear Limited, who were the 2024 winners of RoSPA’s Fleet Safety trophy – just one of the company’s long line of RoSPA accolades that this year included a President’s Award (for achieving 12 consecutive Fleet Safety Gold Awards) and being Highly Commended in the Construction Engineering sector (equating to 15 Gold Awards).
Although the engineering business is the UK’s largest specialist nuclear services organisation and offers support to clients through the entire nuclear lifecycle of design, construction, commissioning, operation and decommissioning of reactors, Paul says the most dangerous thing its employees do is driving.
“We’re a nuclear company, and therefore it would be completely natural to assume that our biggest risk would involve some of our high-hazard activities. However, by far the biggest risk to our people is getting to those sites, and this inevitably involves driving,” he explains.
“If you look nationally at the statistics of how many people are killed at work it is around 130 a year compared to approximately 1,600 who are killed on the roads each year. You are therefore significantly more at risk of being killed on the roads than at work.”
Cavendish Nuclear is part of Babcock International Group, the UK’s leading engineering support services organisation, which has a turnover of £4.4 billion. Cavendish Nuclear employs approximately 2,000 people in a highly skilled workforce located in the UK, Japan and the USA.
“Our industry includes high hazard activities, but they have risk mitigation factors designed into them which means the operational risks are actually low,” explains Paul who adds that the hazards of working with radioactive and nuclear material are well understood, as is the risk of working at height, and with energised and pressurised systems, as well as all other general aspects of industrial safety.
“When managing a site, there are risk management tools in place and a safety culture that give you influence over everyone there. But from a road perspective you rely more on individual behaviours and on that of other road users.
“With driving, you can only influence your own people and that, in itself, is a risk factor.”
With this in mind, Cavendish Nuclear launched its Occupational Road Risk programme back in 2012 and this marked the start of its annual entry into RoSPA’s Awards scheme for Fleet Safety.
Six years later, the company won its first Fleet Safety Gold medal, having won six consecutive golds in the previous years. That year, it also took home the Workforce Involvement in Safety and Health (WISH) Trophy, among other accolades.
In 2020, the company achieved a President’s Award for Occupational Health and Safety (ten consecutive Gold Awards) and in 2022 they built on the previous year’s Highly Commended by winning the overall Construction Engineering Industry Sector Award. In 2023, came their first President’s Award (for 10 consecutive Gold Awards) for fleet safety.
Says Paul: “The 2023 Fleet President’s Award and our 2024 Fleet Safety Trophy were particularly satisfying as they recognised the success of our fleet safety programme over the previous decade and our unwavering commitment to keeping people safe, not only in work but whilst travelling to the workplace too.”
Throughout his 30-year career, the RoSPA Awards have always been part of Paul’s work planning cycle.
“From my early British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) days in the 1990s, through to today with Cavendish Nuclear, we have always engaged with the RoSPA Awards programme,” he says.
The RoSPA Awards are held in high regard across the health and safety profession, and recognise achievement, commitment and workforce engagement with health and safety.
“The awards system allows us to recognise our people for their contribution, and are another avenue to celebrate success,” says Paul. “At whatever level you achieve - be it Bronze, Silver, Gold or Trophy level - these are awards worth having, publicising and talking about.
“There is an element of prestige and kudos, and in a very busy business they enable successes and strategies to be validated externally, while thanking staff for influencing the risk control factors and keeping themselves safe.
“If you are new to the awards, or are considering entering, I would say ‘go for it’. It’s not so much ‘why would you?’ as ‘why wouldn’t you?’”
Safety messaging
When it comes to fleet safety in particular, Paul says that the key to success has been effective dissemination of factual information to the workforce.
“In an organisation that is staffed by technically-minded people, when you give them statistics – for example, showing that air and train travel is safer than the risk of being involved in a significant road traffic accident – you are speaking in a language they can often relate to. Putting risk into context is essential and helps it to be understood.”
However, he says the starting point is clear and visible leadership from the very top of the organisation.
“Safety is a core value of the business, and it is essential that clear standards and expectations are set at senior level and that all messaging is consistent with those standards
“Fundamentally we are successful in our field of business because we have unwavering safety leadership from the very top. It isn’t just the safety department talking about it; safety is the very first message that comes down from leadership.
“’We aren’t just doing this ‘because we have to but because we believe in it’, is very much the message. Any conflicting messaging can seriously damage your culture.”
Alongside leadership and trust, is training.
Raising awareness with colleagues was a priority and the company deployed online modules designed to manage road risk. This was supported with on-road training and a dedicated page on the company’s intranet, focusing on managing occupational road risk and providing simple tools and guidance on topics such as vehicle checks and journey planning.
The company also introduced a Driver and Journey Risk Assessment Process.
“This was pivotal in driving a culture change across the organisation as it provided a vehicle for individuals to discuss travel with their line manager; to assess the likely journeys to be undertaken, and to agree a travel strategy for each.”
Such considerations may include challenging the need to travel in the first place; using public transport rather than driving, or staying overnight if driving is required.
“This transmitted a clear signal to our people that we take this seriously,” says Paul.
It also provided a mechanism for the company to collect information on personal risk factors (including points, annual mileage, etc), to determine an individual’s risk and to identify any additional training needs.
Recent upgrades include a brand-new travel page on the company intranet for every work site which details travel options and makes it easier for employees to consider public transport choices, reducing the need to drive.
“Some of our sites are in remote places, and we also encourage staff to get lifts from colleagues already on the site, which also assists with our carbon footprint. This chimes with my philosophy about giving our people the tools to make the right decisions. The key is in giving them the information and freedom to make better choices. One of our greatest achievements is our positively engaged workforce,” he asserts.
Reporting culture
Over the past decade, Cavendish Nuclear’s road traffic incident rate has dropped, but the amount of reporting has increased.
“This might seem contradictory, but over the last 10 years, we have seen a steady decrease in Road Traffic Collisions and a corresponding decrease in ‘own-fault’ incidents as well,” says Paul. “At the same time, we have seen a marked increase in the number of reports submitted by our employees in relation to vehicle defects that have been identified in pre-use vehicle checks, and also reports of unsafe driving behaviour.”
There has also been a decrease in car miles and increase in public transport miles, with the exception of the COVID years.
“We record all kinds of road-related issues, even minor bumps and scrapes, and we have seen a steady increase in trivial things such as this due to our good reporting culture. Over the past six years or so, we have noted that anything more significant tends to be caused by a third party,” says Paul, whose team is also working with hire car organisations to ensure that hire cars are rejected for reasons such as insufficient tread on the tyres.
“From a road perspective, our people are tuned into safety,” he adds.
Anyone who drives on company business has to complete online driver modules and on-road defensive driver training is offered by an external provider to those whose risk assessment indicates that it would be beneficial.
Looking forward
Paul and his team will soon start planning Cavendish Nuclear’s applications for the next RoSPA Awards cycle for 2026.
“An important part of the process is always taking time to review carefully the feedback provided by RoSPA assessors on our previous submissions,” says Paul. “You always get feedback and we always take careful note of this, which can help identify small details for improvement, so it’s also great from a growth and learning perspective.”
He assures tentative new applicants that the submission process makes clear what is required and offers support for new applicants. “Even after all these years, the RoSPA Awards continue to be a powerful reflective tool for us,” he adds. “It makes you reflect on what you have achieved, which is easy to forget, and the simple fact of sitting down and carrying out this review is hugely beneficial. I always find it to be a really important tool in the processes of improvement planning, communication and celebrating success.”
He urges new applicants not to worry about the outcome of their first submission.
“What you achieve is actually irrelevant,” he counsels. “Because what you have done is used your RoSPA Awards application as a starting point to demonstrate your company’s ongoing commitment to safety excellence, and this is something to build on. If you are an applicant who already has mature health and safety systems, then this is a great way of getting them externally recognised.”
“Having a RoSPA Award underpins your good practice and proves to colleagues that it is actually award-winning good practice. This is definitely of benefit beyond your own team.”
Achieving RoSPA’s highly-regarded accolades also brings further company-wide benefits. “Engaging with the Awards is always good for business,” says Paul. “RoSPA Awards are important for our customers, it gives them further confidence in our company commitment to health and safety excellence”.
“Any company can promise the earth, but our RoSPA Awards demonstrate that we work safe; and if we are good at what we do from a safety perspective, we are more likely to deliver well across the board.”
2026 will be the 70th anniversary of the RoSPA Health and Safety Awards. Find out more about entering at: www.rospa.com/health-and-safety-awards
