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Contractor safety pays benefits to charities
Excellent Safety performance on a Sellafield construction project has given sub contractors the opportunity to save lives by making charity donations through their safety scheme.
Workers on the Box Transfer Facility and Silos Direct Encapsulation Plant (BTF/SDP) are rewarded for every 28 day period of safety performance, with a donation to charity and to date over £28,000 has been donated to various charities.
VINCI Construction sub contractor employee Stephen Bowes (Balfour Beatty Engineering Services) took the opportunity to show his thanks to Cockermouth Mountain Rescue team for rescuing his disabled brother during the 2009 floods by nominating the charity to receive £1,000.
This year the team have also donated £2,000 to Cancer Research, nominated by sub contract employee Neil Robertson (Interserve), which will be used to fund ongoing research into the causes of Breast Cancer.
“By donating money to groups such as Cancer Research and the Mountain Rescue, our safety performance is helping to save lives in more than one way,” said Tommy Dougan, Sellafield Ltd Safety advisor.
“This is a fantastic scheme,” said Dermott Conway, Vinci Construction Safety manager. “The lads see it as ‘their’ scheme, and make sure they work safely so they can make donations to groups of their choice.”
“Donations make a big difference to us,” said Derek Tunstall, MBE, receiving the cheque on behalf of Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team. “The night of the Floods was incredibly busy for us, so as well as the donation, it was also nice to hear what happened to one of the people we helped.”
Natasha Howe, Cancer Research UK’s area volunteer manager for Cumbria, said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive such a fantastic donation for Cancer Research UK. To know that the funds have come from the result of safe working and the people’s choice is fantastic and I cannot thank Sellafield Ltd and Vinci Construction UK Ltd enough!”
The BTF/SDP safety scheme is jointly funded by both Sellafield Ltd and Vinci’s Construction Each £1,000 charity donation is nominated by a member of the site construction workforce. BTF/SDP is being built to process and store historic radioactive nuclear waste.
