Health and Safety accolades for Granada

In the month after Granada Material Handling received their Gold Achievement Award from RoSPA, we bring a round-up of Granada’s health and safety initiatives, led by Alison Hodgson – Health, Safety and Compliance Manager at GMH.

Alison Hodgson receiving Granada’s Gold Achievement Award at RoSPA Ceremony in July

Based at Granada’s Airbus site in Broughton, Alison has been instrumental in creating a range of health and safety initiatives, both at Airbus and at Granada’s Rochdale headquarters. At Broughton, where around 6,000 people are employed on-site, GMH were one of the companies taking a lead to set up a Contractors Health & Safety committee. This committee encourages and facilitates contractors’ input into health-related issues across the site which is home to Airbus wing design, engineering and production in the UK, an initiative that has won praise from both Airbus and from the Health and Safety Executive.

This builds on Alison’s work in furthering health and safety across the Broughton site, where she is the most recent recipient of the ‘Contractor Safety Systems Best Achievement of the Year Award’. Voted for by Airbus and by their contractors, Alison is the first woman to win this award.

At Granada’s headquarters in Rochdale, Alison has been instrumental in creating a Health & Safety Champions scheme. There are now 5 Champions, with a shared responsibility for health and safety initiatives across the company, both on- and offshore, all supported by Granada’s directors and their health and safety manager, and raising awareness of health and safety within the industry.

Russ Pritchard, Contractor Safety Manager for Airbus in the UK comments,
“As a leader of contractor safety on the Airbus UK site in Broughton site since 2009 I have found the commitment, passion and support from Alison Hodgson of Granada Material Handling towards safety to exceed expectations of any one individual. The standards of safety at Airbus have grown over the years and in particular the standards within the supply chain. I can honestly say that without Alison’s support, knowledge and drive then as a partnership between Airbus and the contractor family we would not be where we are today in respect to safety being seen as bench mark within the Industry.”

Reflecting on these projects and awards, Alison is keen to note the support she has received from Granada,
“My role takes me into various engineering environments and requires a breadth of regulatory knowledge and experience – including PUWER, LOLER, COSHH, the HSAW Act, and management of health and safety regulations. The directors at Granada have always been very supportive of my continued studies and have encouraged me to develop my career, and to keep GMH at the forefront of health and safety best practice across the industry.”