YORK-BASED Shepherd Engineering Services has scooped a top safety award for the fourth year in a row.

The building services firm, part of Shepherd Building Group, won the British Safety Council award for its below-average accident rate, its safety policies and plans and its commitment to health and safety right through the company to board level.

The award focused on two of the firm's major health and safety advancements in 1999 - the standardisation of all its health and safety documentation kept at every project it works on and a new co-ordinated approach on risk assessment.

John Lloyd, the company's safety officer, said: "This award is not only a credit to the policies and plans we undertake but also a commendation to all the staff working for the company."