Prospect reps win award for environmental projects at Babcock awards

A group of 32 Prospect environment reps from three companies at Devonport Royal Dockyard in Plymouth won an award recently at the Babcock Health and Safety Awards for the good work they have carried out over the past year (2017).

They will now go forward to the Babcock finals later this year. In the meantime their priority is to mark World Environment Day on 5 June.

The day is celebrated around the world every year to raise awareness of the need to protect the environment, but this will be the first time it has been marked formally at the dockyard.

Tracey Rhodes, an engineer at Babcock, is the group’s deputy lead environment rep and has been involved in harnessing its momentum since an environmental sustainability agreement was signed last year between the Ministry of Defence, Interserve, Babcock and unions Prospect, GMB and Unite.

She says: “It all started in early June last year, when we came together as a group and had a two-day training course in Plymouth provided by Prospect.

“We have managed to keep the momentum going by having regular meetings and discussions. We’ve been focusing on this important area of work for almost a year now and have recruited more reps and achieved quite a lot.”

Two of the biggest projects so far include a beach clean with a local environmental action group and recycling personal protective equipment (PPE) that was set to be incinerated.

Tracey says: “The beach clean was a fantastic day, with many random items retrieved. It was great to see the area free of litter and looking truly beautiful.”

The idea for recycling used PPE came from the initial training course, when a rep mentioned that 160 bags of used equipment were about to be incinerated.

“We went to look at the bags and quickly realised that many items could be re-used or recycled.

“The team worked hard to identify alternative disposal channels. For example, 250 fleeces were sent to a local cats and dogs home where they used them for soft bedding material.”

The group is continuously on the lookout for environmental causes to initiate or support. For example, more spill kits – used to contain various spills in the dockyard – are being rolled out.

“The environment often takes a back seat when considering health and safety so it’s good that we can highlight that aspect,” says Tracey.

The group also supports and raises awareness of Devonport’s initiative to reduce energy use by turning off non-essential equipment during shutdown periods at Christmas and Easter.

“By supporting these initiatives we have contributed to reducing the site’s carbon footprint and raised awareness of environmental matters that can adversely affect our workplace.”

Tracey says much of the reps’ time is being taken up at the moment with preparations for World Environment Day.

“We’ve hired the largest venue at the dockyard and will be promoting different environmental initiatives being developed on the site. For example, we’ve invited a group who are using laser ablation instead of shot blasting, which is better for the environment.

“We’ve also got the Marine Conservation Society, National Marine Aquarium and Devon Wildlife Trust coming to support us, which links in with this year’s theme of connecting people to nature.

“There will be stands and talks throughout the day and the event is open to the entire workforce.”

Tracey encourages anyone interested in becoming an environment rep to contact her, co-deputy lead rep Dan Piercy or lead rep Richard Cooper.

“If we can recruit a few more reps we can organise some more training and keep the momentum going.”

Del Northcott, Prospect secretary, added: “Tracey and the team have done a fantastic job and worked extremely hard. Their award is well deserved.”