October 22 2018: Unipart Group, one of Europe’s leading manufacturing, logistics and consultancy companies has won safety and environmental management accolades for a number of its sites in this year’s British Safety Council Sword and Globe of Honour awards.
Unipart was one of 61 organisations worldwide that achieved a Sword of Honour, which is awarded to companies that have demonstrated excellence in the management of health and safety risks at work. This award is recognised as the pinnacle of achievement in the world of health and safety management.
The company now has amassed a total of over 50 Swords of Honour over eight years. Last year, Unipart received an Outstanding Achievement Award for Safety at the International Safety Awards in recognition that they are the only organisation in the world to have achieved the Sword and Globe of Honour awards for five consecutive years.
Unipart Logistics, the global supply chain part of the Group, was one of only 17 organisations worldwide to also receive a Globe of Honour, which is awarded to companies which have demonstrated excellence in environmental management.
For the first time, MetLase, the joint venture between Unipart and Roll-Royce, achieved the Sword of Honour. MetLase is a precision engineering company that uses advanced tooling and fixturing technologies to bring lead times of months down to just days. The award is a significant achievement it is less than three years since MetLase was launched.
In order to compete for the Sword of Honour and Globe of Honour, Unipart Group first had to achieve the maximum five stars in the British Safety Council’s health and safety and environmental management audit scheme in the period August 2017 – July 2018. In addition, Unipart also demonstrated to an independent panel of experts that the company is excellent in health and safety and environmental management throughout the business – from the shop floor to the boardroom.
Unipart credits its success to The Unipart Way, the company’s proprietary business system for continuous improvement that is used by Unipart sites worldwide. The Unipart Way is a major contributor to the company’s safety record as well as increases in productivity.
Unipart Chairman and Group Chief Executive John Neill said: “The Unipart Way provides the company with a complete ecosystem for continuous improvement that enables us to aspire to world class performance in everything that we do. This extends to health and safety and environmental management. Across our Group of Companies, our colleagues have created the safest places to work and introduced sustainable processes that continue to deliver benefits for our company and for our clients. These awards are a great recognition of their success.”
Lawrence Waterman, Chairman of the British Safety Council, said: “On behalf of the board of trustees and staff of the British Safety Council I would like to congratulate Unipart on achieving the very highest standards of health, safety and environmental management. Excellence at this level is very hard won. We are proud to have supported you in your achievements, and I am delighted that you have chosen to celebrate with us today.”
Mike Robinson, Chief Executive of the British Safety Council, added: “I would like to congratulate the winning organisation and its staff for their huge commitment to keeping their workplace safe and healthy and minimising risks to the environment from their organisations’ day-to-day activities.
“All of the Sword and Globe winning organisations share a commitment and resolve to achieve the highest standards of health, safety and/or environmental management. We are delighted that they are partners in helping achieve our vision that no-one should be injured or made ill at work.”
2018 Joint Globe and Sword Winners – Unipart Logistics
The 2018 Sword of Honour winners were:
- Unipart Rail
- Unipart Logistics – Waterstones
- Unipart Logistics – Magna Park
- Metlase
