Novus Blog
Positive outlook for health and safety in construction

As we reveal that, during the latest quarter, 20 of our offices achieved health and safety audit scores above last year’s average, we ask the health and safety team’s Gareth Mayers and Rob Warwick what we’re doing as a company to continuously improve health and safety.
The health and safety audit results for July to September are really encouraging and show that across the board, we’re making excellent progress. Overall, 157 audits took place during these three months – the busiest months of the year. Many of our clients, particularly in the education sector, commission work during the summer so it’s testament to everyone at Novus that our audit scores improved during this time.
The Plymouth office did particularly well, with a score of 98.4%, while the Northampton office was the most improved with 93% – a 13% increase on the previous audit. As well as these great results, we are also delighted to have recently achieved the RoSPA Gold Award for Occupational Health and Safety, for the second year running!
Some of our offices still need to improve their standards though, so we’re arranging meetings with operations teams to see how we can work together to achieve better levels of health and safety across the board.
Our record overall is improving, but we can’t yet be fully satisfied, so we are continuing to apply new strategies and ways of working so that we can all make further progress and ensure Novus is an even safer place to work.
We spread the health and safety message nationwide, and at a recent Health and Safety Committee meeting, all members signed a terms of reference agreeing to promote excellence within the region they represent.
Meanwhile, new Toolbox Talks are regularly delivered to give employees the latest – and best – advice on subjects ranging from careful housekeeping to working at height. We have plenty of new topics in the pipeline as part of this campaign, to encourage continuous improvement throughout the company.
Target Zero is another campaign we’re running, which aims to improve standards by communicating good safety performance and improved standards and knowledge. We also carry out surveys with operatives as part of this campaign, so we can identify areas where we can improve.
We also have embraced new technology in the health and safety team! Our processes are being streamlined with the introduction of tablet computers, and these will help to make substantial time savings during and after on-site audits, so we can dedicate more time and focus on other areas.
We need every Novus employee to support us in our mission to improve health and safety and thank every one of them for their continued support in driving safety, which is essential to the ongoing success of our business

Introducing our Apprentice of the Year: Lily Davies
This week is National Apprenticeship Week, so we’re shining the spotlight on one of Novus’ true rising stars – and recent winner of our Apprentice of the Year’ trophy at the Novus Awards – Lily Davies, who is working with us as a Junior Bid Writer.
We asked Lily to tell us about her journey so far, and her aspirations for the future – and what she would tell people considering beginning their own apprenticeship journey in our sector.