The ceremony took place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, National Exhibition Centre, on Wednesday 18th May 2011.

To be awarded a Gold Achievement Award, as part of the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards, companies must not only provide evidence of rigorous management systems, but also show that good health and safety practices have been embedded into the culture of the company. In turn, showing high levels of compliance and lower than average accident statistics.

The scheme and awards programe which was launched 55 years ago looks not only at accident records, but also entrants' overarching health and safety management systems, including important practices such as strong leadership and workforce involvement.

David Rawlins, RoSPA's awards manager, said: "RoSPA firmly believes that organisations that have demonstrated their commitment to continuous improvement in accident and ill health prevention deserve recognition. VolkerFitzpatrick and VolkerHighways have shown that they are committed to striving for such continuous improvement and we are delighted to honour it through the presentation of an award."

Adrian Shah-Cundy, head of HSEQS at VolkerWessels UK said, "The RoSPA awards scheme is not only about reducing the number of accidents and cases of ill-health at work; but also about ensuring we have robust health and safety management systems."

"There is a considerable amount of effort undertaken in embedding the importance of health and safety awareness into the culture of our employees and those we work with"

"We are committed to maintaining the highest of standards and so are continually striving for our workplaces to be free of incident or injury. It is a long term commitment, as we do not want to be industry average in safety; we want to lead the way. Receiving this award shows our commitment to the health and safety of our employees and all those we work with"