A HAMPSHIRE company has been named as the best in Britain in terms of looking after the safety of its staff.

Trant Engineering, which has its headquarters at Totton and carries out numerous civil engineering projects around the UK, was named as the winner of the UK's supreme safety award.

More than 1,000 awards are being handed out this week at two presentation nights staged by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre and the top prize - the Sir George Earle Trophy - was handed to Trant managing director John Moriarty.

The presentation by Lord Faulkner of Worcester crowned a long-running campaign by Trant, under the overall leadership of its chairman Patrick Trant and Mr Moriarty, to perfect its safety measures and, at the same time, win Britain's supreme safety title.

"It is the third time we have been close - we were runners-up twice - and it is something the whole company is very proud of," said Trant safety adviser Graham Newton.

Founded in 1984 as a subsidiary of Trant Construction, it has about 300 workers and has been involved for years in major contracts at Fawley Refinery. It also provides workers for various Glaxo Smith Klein centres, for BP's Wych Farm oilfield in Dorset and for Texaco's Pembroke Refinery.

Trant Construction is involved in contracts both on the UK mainland and in Guernsey, Jersey and the Falklands.

Before RoSPA's high-powered committee of experts picked Trant, they looked at the company's health clinic, safety procedures, method statement and workers' medical checks.

They also visited Fawley Refinery to see workers on site and Mr Newton also highlighted the safety culture developed at the refinery.