Port Skills and Safety says Port of Liverpool owner Peel Ports is ranked number one for the lowest rate of injuries at its UK ports network. Tony McDonough reports

Port of Liverpool owner Peel Ports is the safest port operator in the UK, according to a new ranking.

Port Skills and Safety has recently announced its annual benchmarking results for 2019, ranking Peel Ports in first place for the lowest rate of significant injuries as measured by lost time incidents (LTIs).

As well as employing hundreds of people on the Mersey, Peel Ports operates ports at Heysham, Manchester Ship Canal, Medway (Sheerness / Chatham), Clydeport and Great Yarmouth, and has seen a 90% reduction in LTIs over the past two years.

Chief executive Mark Whitworth said: “Our vision is to ensure that everyone goes home safely every day. In order for safety to remain front and centre, we cannot be complacent and instead must focus on constantly learning and growing, and providing opportunities for everyone to do the same.

“We must remember that we’re operating in potentially dangerous environments and it’s everyone’s individual responsibility to remain vigilant and engaged with the group’s health and safety activities.

“No one can afford to be complacent. Port hazards are as significant today as they have always been. To control them, we must continue to invest heavily in planning each task carefully so that injuries don’t occur.

“We need to continue to promote a ‘brother’s keeper’ philosophy where everyone looks out for each other and we don’t hesitate to intervene if something is seen that may not be safe.”

Peel Ports vision of achieving zero lost time incidents was established in 2017, tasked the newly-appointed group health and safety director, Rob Hunter, with setting the strategy to achieve this goal. The first group health and safety plan was launched that same year and today, Peel Ports is onto its fourth annual plan.

Since 2017, a wide range of projects and initiatives have been launched aimed at developing people, improving processes and using the right tools and equipment to ensure exemplary safety behaviours.

Mr Hunter added: “Every employee deserves to be congratulated on the progress that they have made. Almost 100 employees have avoided serious injury based on the improving incident rate of the last three years; that is something we should all be proud of.”