24 May 2012
Yorkon Achieves Independent Accreditation for Health and Safety Management
Award-winning off-site construction specialist, Yorkon, has announced that as part of the Portakabin Group, it has achieved OHSAS 18001 accreditation for design and manufacture - the internationally-recognised standard for occupational health and safety management.
The OHSAS standard promotes a safe and healthy working environment by providing a framework that allows an organisation to constantly evaluate and manage its health and safety risks, significantly reducing the potential for accidents, helping legislative compliance and improving overall performance.
Simon Ambler, Director of Yorkon, said, "Off-site construction already offers significant health and safety benefits compared to site-based building methods. By taking a responsible and forward-thinking approach to health and safety management, we can reduce the risk of accidents and injury even further."
"Our aim is to ensure we maintain a healthy and safe working environment for all our staff, contractors, visitors and any individual affected by our operations - both at our manufacturing centre and head office in York and on every construction site."
"This latest independently-audited accreditation gives our customers even greater peace of mind that we have robust and best practice procedures in place across the business and at every level. The OHSAS certification is a powerful tool that allows organisations to focus their health and safety management on internationally-accepted criteria. It is a proactive solution to reducing risk at every level and further improving business efficiency."
The OHSAS accreditation will be reviewed annually by the BSI Group, an independent third party, as part of a three-year programme of continuous improvement.
Initiatives include:
- Employees at every level are involved in writing procedures, including the production and site teams, to ensure the most effective systems are in place and that everyone is fully engaged
- Health and safety procedures are promoted via bulletins and ongoing information campaigns to create behavioural safety awareness
- Objectives and targets are set and the results shared across the business
- There is an open door policy to health and safety, and near miss reporting is actively encouraged
- Our overall vision is to have an accident and incident-free workplace.
As a market leader in off-site construction, Yorkon already has a wide range of independent endorsements and accreditations in place. These include:
- ISO 14001 - the international standard for reducing impact on the environment
- Local Authority Building Control approval
- Government Procurement Service framework agreement
- Loss Prevention Certification Board approval for fire testing
- ISO 9001 for quality assurance.
Yorkon provides bespoke steel-framed buildings, which are manufactured off site in significantly less time, with less disruption and less impact on the environment.
Applications for its open plan building system are diverse and include buildings for schools and academies to meet place planning issues; complex healthcare facilities - from operating theatres and renal units to complete self-contained hospitals; superstores and convenience stores in the retail sector; passenger and staff facilities at airports and railway terminals, and high quality office buildings.
Yorkon is part of the Portakabin Group.
For further information about Yorkon off-site building solutions, call 0845 2000 123, email contact@yorkon.co.uk or visit www.yorkon.info.
Editor's Notes
The advantages of off-site construction include:
- Programme times reduced by up to 50 per cent for earlier handover and occupation
- Reduced disruption with safer, quieter and cleaner construction
- A robust pre-installed concrete floor option for enhanced performance for high traffic areas
- Buildings that can be easily extended vertically or horizontally and expanded without decanting
- Material wastage reduced by up to 90 per cent
- Up to 90 per cent fewer vehicle movements to site
- Improved quality and reduced future maintenance
- A high level of design flexibility internally and externally
- Improved thermal efficiency for lower running costs and reduced carbon emissions
- Greater assurance of delivery on time and on budget.
