Three Network Rail High Speed stations re-accredited by Bureau Veritas for Covid-19 risk management

St Pancras International, Stratford and Ebbsfleet rail stations where Churchill Group delivers cleaning and hygiene services have all been re-accredited and received Certificates of Assurance from Bureau Veritas for exceptional cleaning and hygiene standards that have helped to minimise the risk posed by Covid-19.

The re-accreditation comes six months after the initial awards, demonstrating the ongoing focus for all three sites as passenger numbers have increased.

Churchill has worked with Network Rail High Speed (NRHS) since 2017, delivering cleaning, janitorial and pest control services. Since the start of the pandemic, it implemented the highest standard of cleaning and hygiene services and is now recognised for the ongoing success of its efforts.

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in testing, inspection and certification and helps its clients improve the quality of their health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility practices. In its audits of the three NRHS sites, it highlighted a number of Churchill processes for the successful assessments, including:

• Churchill’s workplace and hygiene programme PRISM, particularly in determining cleaning regime requirements, and it’s implementation and use by staff
• The use of washroom sensor technology
• The ground-breaking systems, via Churchill’s digital platform Mo:dus, that uses QR scanning to show both proof of clean and proof of presence
• Innovations around UVD robot integration and electrostatic use to support the elimination of bacteria
• Touch point cleaning every two hours, which is twice as often as WHO guidelines

Greg Dingle, London Regional Director at the Churchill Group, said: “The re-accreditation from Bureau Veritas is a significant achievement as it provides independent assurance to both the general public and station employees that health and hygiene is an ongoing priority. We have worked hard to ensure that we deliver a consistent, high-quality approach and this verifies that our efforts are having a positive impact.”

Paul Weal, Head of Stations Engineering at Network Rail High Speed, added: “It is great to be recognised for the hard work of so many in protecting our passengers as we all try to return back to normal after the global pandemic. However, this is only half of the story as what’s really special is the approach consistently demonstrated by the whole of the Churchill team, be it innovation with cleaning, use of technology, willingness to simply do something different and genuinely learn from the experience. It’s just a winning mindset. Churchill is setting the standards for the rest to follow and a company I am proud to say is our business partner.”

The certificates are valid for six months at which point NRHS is expected to undergo another assessment, which will again be supported by Churchill.