9 November 2010

A-one+, the UK's leading highways maintenance provider, is not only top of the league in terms of business won but has reinforced its first-place ranking when it comes to ensuring the safety of its staff.

The company, which combines Halcrow, Colas and Costain, took the Sir Frank Davies Trophy at the annual health and safety awards run by the Mineral Products Association (MPA) for its 'Look Up/Look Out' safety campaign. This was designed to make staff aware of the presence - and potential danger - of overhead power cables while out on their duties.

As part of its submission for the category, A-one+ produced a short video prepared by Halcrow's web and media team illustrating some of the potential risks from overhead cables that its teams could encounter.

The awards ceremony, which attracted an international audience of some 350 people with industry professionals drawn from as far away as South Africa, Malaysia, Australia and Hong Kong, was held in London, with the prizes presented by Judith Hackitt, chairwoman of the Health & Safety Executive.

The seriousness with which the MPA takes the annual awards ceremony was demonstrated by the fact that the judges decided not to give an award in one category because they felt that none of the short-listed entries had achieved a high enough standard to win the award.

A-one+ is the UK's leading Managing Agent Contractor (MAC) on four contracts handling maintenance on 32 per cent of the UK's motorway and trunk road network - the maximum permitted market share. It handles road management in four areas: East Midlands, the Northwest, Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire; and the Northeast.

The organisation was also highly commended in the 'Bitumen, asphalt, contract surfacing: Promoting safer behaviour' category.

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