A SOUTHAMPTON engineering company has joined oil giant Esso as one of only two businesses in the UK to achieve 29 consecutive gold awards for safety performance.

Southampton based Trant Engineering was presented with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Patrons Award which recognises organisations who have achieved 25-plus years of consecutive gold awards with only six in the UK have achieved this to date.

Colin Monaghan, Trant Engineering’s contracts director, and William Millett, the firm’s health & safety manager represented the business at the awards ceremony and gala dinner at the London ExCel Exhibition Centre to coincide with the health and safety charity’s 100th year.

RoSPA said that Trant Engineering was granted the Patron’s Award for “an outstanding performance in health and safety at work over a period of 29 years.”

After collecting the award, Colin said: “Health and safety is paramount in everything we do - on sites, on the roads and in our offices.”

“We are relentless in our pursuit of safety performance standards and this is borne out by the 29 Gold Awards Trant Engineering has received from RoSPA, with the new Patron’s Award testament to our safety-first ethos.

“To stand alongside Esso as only one of two companies in the UK to receive this special award, in RoSPA’s centenary year, is both humbling and testament to the important work being done in keeping our staff as safe as possible in often challenging operational environments.”

The company which employs 1,000 people carries out a diverse range of engineering projects in a number of sectors including power and transmission, civil engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, petrochemical and pharmaceutical across the world.

The awards ceremony follows latest figures released by the Health and Safety Executive which show that 137 workers were killed in 2016/17, with 72,702 other injuries reported under RIDDOR, which is the legal requirement placed on employers to report and record injuries and occupational diseases.