Capita strike gold and silver in awards schemes

Capita's occupational health service has underlined its own corporate health and safety credentials by securing two top awards.

Capita has been presented with a Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Gold Award after achieving "a very high level of performance" in its approach to preventing accidents and ill health among its workforce.

The company has also received a Silver Award from the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives, recognising its commitment and care to the health and wellbeing of its staff.

Capita personnel attended RoSPA's Scottish awards ceremony in Glasgow to accept the gold honour - the highest level of recognition from the organisation.

Gold Award winners have, according to RoSPA, demonstrated "well developed occupational health and safety management systems and culture, outstanding control of risk and very low levels of error, harm and loss".

It marked the culmination of a two-year process involving a detailed RoSPA audit of Capita's health and safety management system, and work to refine and update the system to ensure it remained fully in line with industry guidelines and standards. That was followed by an in-depth award submission to the society.

Meanwhile, the Healthy Working Lives award allows the business to take the next step and go for gold.

"Both awards sum up the commitment by Capita to ensure best practice when it comes to its employees," says Aberdeen-based Capita HSE manager Loes Raemakers, who led the award processes.

"To receive the Gold Award is testimony to a company-wide effort: our health and safety team enjoyed the support and commitment of our senior management team from the outset, while the wider workforce has really engaged with the process.

"It shows that all our services to clients are underpinned by in-house practices and procedures of the highest quality and standard.

"The Silver Award was achieved implementing drug and alcohol policies to meet the criteria set in the awards scheme. Among many other things, we also introduced free fruit to staff, held lunch and learn sessions on a range of topics from cancer to heart disease, and took part in physical activities such as the Global Corporate Challenge, an online workplace walking event."

Capita, with more than 30 years' experience in the provision of professional wellbeing and health services, delivers a range of solutions and innovations to the energy sector.

As well as training, other services include the provision of medics, offshore medical services and expert advice, health surveillance, absence management, international repatriation solutions, wellbeing strategy and employee assistance.