SAFETY first at an Ellesmere Port refinery has ensured the company has maintained its 'gold' status.

The Essar Stanlow Manufacturing Complex has kept ‘Gold’ in the renowned RoSPA Health and Safety Awards.

Organised by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, the awards are recognised as an important benchmark for the UK’s high hazard industries.

The awards receive more than 2,000 entries each year from a wide range of UK and international organisations, representing a total workforce of more than seven million employees. The annual contest is the longest-running industry awards scheme of any type in the UK.

Established in 1956, the competition provides an important opportunity for organisations to continually enhance their health and safety standards by evaluating their performance, benchmarked year on year and against best-in-class criteria globally. As a key forum for technical knowledge sharing and collaboration, the awards are an important catalyst in the global advancement of health and safety systems.

Jon Barden, Chief Operating Officer at Essar, said: "Maintaining gold status is an important standard for the site. This is a collective achievement and I congratulate all of the Stanlow team for their contributions.

"We can all be proud of our increased HSE focus through the TGZ (triple goal zero) programme that supports our aspiration to continuously improve HSE performance going forward.”