Metro Safety has won the 2013 Co-operative Group Property Award for Risk Management:  “excelling in the support of the development of risk management practice and culture, in partnership with The Co-operative Group”. This was celebrated at their Charity Awards Dinner held in Manchester on 10 October which raised over £315,000 for Carers Trust.

Metro Safety Group Managing Director, Andrew Paten had the following to say about receiving the Risk Management Award:
“We are absolutely delighted to receive such a prestigious award from one of the UK’s largest property organisations. The Co-operative is responsible for managing risk in over 10,000 premises across 4,500 different locations in the UK, with an exceptionally diverse range of uses. Achieving fire safety compliance simply and cost effectively, across such diversity was a major challenge for The Co-operative Group. I believe this award is the culmination of working together successfully in partnership over the last six years.”

Metro Safety has been working in partnership with The Co-operative Group since 2007. As well as helping them with fire safety policy, training and liaison with the Fire Authorities we have delivered over 10,000 fire risk assessments to a very diverse range of properties across the UK. These include: retail premises, banks, farms, funeral homes, residential accommodation, showrooms, corporate head offices and logistics warehouses.  Our aim has been to help The Co-operative Group achieve fire safety compliance simply and cost effectively across their properties, in order to comply with the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order) 2005.

From the start of the initial two-year assessment programme, the project was planned to involve all relevant stakeholders and tracked according to agreed Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators. 

The Fire Risk Assessments were carried out for the portfolio with urgent cases prioritised, and over 150 site visits completed per month.    A training programme was implemented and IT systems reviewed to ensure effective monitoring processes. The programme continues to ensure ongoing compliance and exemplary risk management practice across the Group, and Metro Safety are working closely with The Co-operative in developing and implementing fire safety policies. In 2013 The Co-operative Group began developing  a compliance agreement with the Greater Manchester Fire Service to ensure all policies and approaches to fire safety are ‘suitable and sufficient’ according to the terms of the Order. 

Simon Bannaghan, Head of Business Continuity, The Co-operative Risk Services, had the following to say about working with Metro Safety:  “When dealing with various external organisations, being able to reference the support our relationship with Metro provides, is invaluable in demonstrating our commitment to pragmatic and cost effective compliance solutions.”