Hawkins Safety Forward

Hawkins Projects Ltd

Hawkins Projects Ltd. (Hawkins), is part of the Hawkins Group of award-winning construction companies.

Hawkins Projects has a very good, preventative, proactive health and safety culture. It takes its moral and legal responsibility very seriously, working on multiple sites, with multiple contractors, often as the principal contractor.

The Challenge

Hawkins Projects had a £25m contract to project manage the refurbishment of a large steel plant in Yorkshire for a prestigious global client. Their client has a specific way of doing things and very high expectations with regard to all contractors, especially health and safety standards.

Hawkins Projects wanted a fresh set of eyes to look at the site, the current operating procedures and suggest improvements to align with their global clients demands.

The Approach

We undertook a complete health and safety audit of the site and measured the results against the requirements set out by the global client. Hawkins Projects pay great respect to health and safety on all of their sites so it was no surprise that most approaches to site safety were aligned to those of their client. However we did find some issues and set out how improvements could be made to bring them up to the standard.

We then worked with Hawkins Projects and the global client team to agree common practices and roll the standards out to all of the onsite teams.

The Results

The construction work is still on-going, however as a result of our input we have helped ensure the work has been executed in a safe manner and exceeded the global clients requirements. We regularly carry out external audits on site to ensure practices are being followed and all documentation has been completed correctly.

From day one l have found Safety Forward to be likeminded, approachable, practical and down to earth. Marisa Firkins the managing director listened, offered palatable solutions, proposed a partnership approach, delivered with empathy and understanding.

It stood out against other technically orientated companies, which are often negatively focused on a culture of identifying every last non-compliance with an authoritative, dictatorial approach. This is a two way partnership.

Hawkins Projects feels really valued. Safety Forward’s approach is that nothing is too much trouble – from input into meetings, presentations and valuable technical content. All parties are represented equally to ensure the right health and safety solution is achieved.

Paul Jackson

Director, Hawkins Projects Ltd