AV Dawson, owner and operator of Port of Middlesbrough has for the second consecutive year been awarded an international accolade for its efforts in health and safety.
The Teesside-based port operator has achieved one of the highest accolades from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) receiving the ‘Gold’ award, whilist also obtaining the RoSPA ‘Fleet Safety Gold Award’ for managing occupational road risk during 2024.
AV Dawson’s group managing director, Charlie Nettle said:
“Receiving this internationally recognised award for a second consecutive year is a huge achievement for us. It solidifies our strong safety culture and showcases how we’ve prioritised safety across our business.
“It’s something we aim to achieve year in year out as we know we have embedded a strong safety culture within the business. As safety is our number one value, we make safety an absolute priority in everything we do.
“Not only have we received the RoSPA ‘Gold’ award for our health & safety efforts, but our team was also awarded a gold award for our fleet.
“To achieve two awards is impressive and showcases the efforts our team strives to when it comes to safety – no matter what role you are in.
“We recently also achieved 1-year Lost Time Injury (LTI) free across our operations which is a huge milestone, but to win two RoSPA ‘gold’ awards, it really does reflect the priority all our colleagues emphasise on health and safety.”
Companies who receive a RoSPA award are recognised as being world-leaders in health and safety. To be awarded RoSPA Gold, businesses must have achieved a very high level of performance, demonstrating well developed occupational health and safety management systems and culture, outstanding control of risk and very low levels of error, harm and loss.
RoSPA Gold is acknowledged as the highest accolade in the health and safety industry.
Neil Olver, head of health, safety and environment at AV Dawson said:
“After receiving our first RoSPA Gold award back in 2024, we were already striving for gold in 2025. The health, safety, environmental and quality teams’ preparation begins a full year prior to the current year and we go to massive lengths to ensure the evidence we submit is of the highest quality.
“We thought we would push the boundary this year and enter the fleet award with no real expectations of getting gold but, thanks to the dedication of our compliance and transport teams we have come out on top.
“Without this amount of effort, time and dedication that goes into safety in the workplace we wouldn’t be in this position and it’s all down to our fantastic teams across our subsidiary businesses: Port of Middlesbrough, Cockfield Knight, AV Dawson Transport and AVD Industrial and Port Services. It really has been a team effort in achieving both these awards and is a true reflection of our positive safety culture.”
Julia Small, RoSPA’s Growth Director, said:
“AV Dawson should be proud of the hard work and commitment to keeping people safe that has resulted in a RoSPA Award, which honours those organisations who have achieved the highest standards in health and safety in the workplace.
“RoSPA regards AV Dawson as a strong example of the importance of making accident prevention central to any successful organisation, not just for the benefit of employees, customers and clients, but also society as a whole.