SIXTEEN Cumbrian employers have received health and safety awards from RoSPA – the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

The annual awards, in their 60th year, recognise continuous improvement in accident and ill-health prevention at work.

The star performers were Balfour Beatty Engineering Services and Shepley Engineers in west Cumbria, and the Shepley subsidiary PPS Electrical in Barrow.

They won the Order of Distinction for 15 or more consecutive gold awards.

ACKtiv Nuclear, based at Westlakes Science Park near Whitehaven, and the Low Level Waste Repository at Drigg, collected President’s Awards for 10 or more consecutive golds.

While the training provider Gen2 and Px, operator of the combined heat and power plant at Sellafield, received Gold Medals for five or more consecutive golds awards.

Sellafield Ltd recorded one one of its best-ever performances, scooping one silver and nine gold awards. Four of these were in the highest hazard areas of the site – the legacy ponds and silos.

Euan Hutton, Sellafield Ltd’s environment, health, safety and quality director, said: “Sellafield is one of the world’s most hazardous nuclear sites, but also one of the safest – and that does not come about by chance.

“Winning 10 RoSPA awards is a fantastic achievement given the challenges our workforce face every day and the huge range of activities they undertake.

“These awards are proof of how seriously we take our responsibility to manage the clean-up of the UK’s nuclear legacy at safely and securely.

“However, we are never complacent – we constantly strive to improve."

Other gold award winners were Redhall Marine in Barrow, Morson Group at Westlakes, James Cropper at Burneside near Kendal, NFT Distribution in Penrith and the Mitie Cumbria Collaboration at Sellafield.

Bendalls Enginnering in Carlisle won silver, while Studsvik UK at Lillyhall, Workington, won the waste management and recycling sector prize, and the National Nuclear Laboratory was commended in the research and development sector.