Safety and Environment Focus for FirstGroup

2013-04-24 — /travelprnews.com/ — FirstGroup, the leading transport operator in the UK and North America, last week (16 April) hosted its annual Safety and Environmental Awards Dinner.  The awards reinforce First’s commitment to safety and the environment by recognising the achievements of its people and companies throughout the UK.

More than 230 of FirstGroup’s senior management from across the UK and North America attended this year’s event.  The voice of the national lottery, Alan Dedicoat was host, and guests enjoyed speeches from FirstGroup’s Chief Executive, Tim O’Toole, and Mark Gallagher, one of the leading figures in Formula 1.

Naveed Qamar, FirstGroup’s Safety Director, hailed the event as a fantastic success and said: “Safety is one of FirstGroup’s core values and I’m very pleased that our dedicated and relentless approach has become our way of life within the company.

“Whilst we can point to an industry leading safety record across the Group, we must continue to improve and do better.  Across our entire operations we are aiming for zero; zero injuries and zero preventable incidents. The lives of 124,000 employees are in our hands, as well as those of the 2.5 billion passengers that we move each year.

“Our Awards Dinner is not just a great evening – it is a source of inspiration and helps re-inforce our company mantra: ‘If you cannot do it safely, don’t do it.’ “

Graham Thurstan, Environmental Manager at FirstGroup commented: “The Environmental Awards reward those individuals and companies that demonstrate commitment, enthusiasm, innovative thinking and go the extra mile to help limit our environmental footprint.”

“We’ve enjoyed an exceptional 12 months across FirstGroup.  Our carbon dioxide emissions per passenger km continues to decrease; we have improved waste recycling by 8% across the UK – including an improvement of 13% in UK Bus; and we achieved further reductions in energy usage in our depots throughout the UK.

“I’m also very proud that FirstGroup collected the prestigious ‘Silver Green Apple Environment Award’ at an event at the House of Commons in 2012.  And indeed last year we also won the much coveted Environmental prize at the UK Bus Awards.”

It proved to be a very successful night for First ScotRail, winning five awards. It was named Best Rail Operating Company in the environmental contest, after reducing water, gas and electricity use at depots and stations by 24%, 6% and 5.9% respectively. It’s ‘Switched On’ safety campaign won the UK Rail Operations Team Safety Award and its ‘SafeStations’ campaign won the best safety initiative.

Safety award winners received around £6,000 in total from FirstGroup to donate to local charities of their choice. Individual winners were rewarded with a weekend away courtesy of First.

For a full list of awards and winners, please see below:

UK Bus – Safety Awards
• Operations Team Award – Sheffield, North Region
• Engineering Team Award – Leicester, South East & Midlands
• Projects and Initiatives Award – Alperton Management Team, London
• Outstanding Individual Award – Ian Fox, Bus Station Co-ordinator, Leeds, North Region

UK Rail – Safety Awards
• Operations Team Award – ScotRail Operations Team
• Engineering Team Award – St Philips Marsh Depot, First Great Western
• Projects and Initiatives Award –ScotRail’s Safe Stations Campaign
• Outstanding Individual Award – Ian Thomson, ScotRail

Environmental Awards – Winners
• Best Train Operating Company – ScotRail
• Best Large Bus Depot – Westbourne Park, London
• Best Small Bus Depot – Todmorden Depot, North Region
• Best Environmental Initiative – ScotRail
• Best Eco Friendly Driver – Sandra Cordiner, First Aberdeen
• Best Contribution to Sustainable Procurement – UK Bus Engineering and Procurement

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