HSEQ

Environment

Houston Cox recognises the importance of environmental protection and our responsibility to the wider environment and communities.

We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and strive to minimise any adverse impacts that our activities have, particularly in relation to climate change. We aim to make a positive contribution to the environmental quality of the communities in which we work. We will comply with all relevant legislation as an absolute minimum standard and aim to continually improve our performance, implementing good practice on all new projects.

We continually seek to improve our awareness and environmental performance through appropriate initiatives, controls, purchasing of resources and training of employees.

We regularly review our business practices, management objectives and targets to identify how we can reduce our requirements for energy and transport and thus reduce our carbon emissions. We are committed to good practice in respect of recycling and waste minimisation for both ourselves and our supply chain. We will ensure that the procurement of materials is, where possible, from fully sustainable sources.

Health and Safety

Houston Cox believes it is the absolute right of every person employed by our company to be safe at their place of work. We have the objective of being an incident and accident free company and will not rest until we have achieved this aim. We have robust health and safety practices and procedures for our workforce and supply chain that are supported by our senior management team with advice from our full-time safety team. Safety objectives and targets are established and reviewed on a regular basis and include:

• Setting annual targets towards a zero accident rate
• Ensuring that appropriate training is available to all employees
• Identifying and assessing hazards and near misses and applying the necessary controls
• Comprehensive and effective consultation between directors and employees.

We recognise that successful health and safety management can only be achieved with the support and commitment of our employees. All employees are actively encouraged to take ownership of health and safety and empowered to assist in decision making.

Our Integrated Management System is accredited to OHSAS 18001. This management system provides the framework and procedures to help identify and control our Health and Safety risks, reduce the potential for accidents, aid legislative compliance and improve overall performance.

People

Our ambition is to be the best in our sector, to achieve that we need the most talented staff.

We want people who are committed to providing an exceptional service to you our customer and who recognise and believe in our values and vision.

In return Houston Cox will invest in its workforce by providing a range of career pathways, training and opportunities for development that builds confidence and capability.

Our ambition is to create a culture of continued improvement in our people. By assessment through one to one meetings and appraisals we are able to judge the needs of our staff and therefore channel training to improve individual core competences and the skill base of our team.

Quality

Houston Cox ensures customer satisfaction by meeting our customer’s needs and requirements. This is evidenced by a large proportion of repeat business and recommendations. Our aim is to provide excellent products, goods and services, safely, on time and within budget.

We operate an Integrated Management System (IMS) that conforms to BS EN ISO 9001: 2015 as well as BS EN ISO 14001:2015 and OHSAS 18001. The IMS comprises the Health and Safety, Environment and Quality Manual together with supporting documentation supplied in the company starter pack. It sets out the procedures to be adopted in procuring, executing and concluding our works in line with our H&S, quality and environmental objectives.