Health and safety is an issue that we take very seriously.

Setting the highest standards, and establishing the best possible practices, is something we’ve long aimed to do. For that reason, it pleases us a great deal to announce that William Channon has been awarded accreditation from safecontractor as recognition for our ongoing commitment to achieving excellence in this particular field.

It might not be on all our customers’ radars, but safecontractor – a third-party accreditation scheme that assesses health and safety arrangements in numerous sectors – is becoming increasingly important in the property, building and maintenance trades. More than anything else, it establishes certain credentials and shows our clients that we are a competent and professional organisation. Our continuing commitment to the highest safety standards is also good news, for obvious reasons, for both our staff and our customers.

‘Major organisations cannot afford to run the risk of employing contractors who are not able to prove that they have sound health and safety policies in place,’ said John Kinge, the technical director of safecontractor. ‘More companies need to understand the importance of adopting good risk management in the way that William Channon has done. The firm’s high standard has set an example which hopefully will be followed by other companies in the sector.’

In order to receive safecontractor accreditation, we underwent a detailed vetting process during which our health and safety procedures, as well as our track record for safe practice, had to be examined. In subjecting ourselves to such close scrutiny, we have shown that our operation is founded on sound principles, that we do things in the correct manner and that, above all, we know what we’re doing.

In an industry that isn’t subject to Government licensing – in the UK, anyone can call themselves a locksmith – we believe that opening our doors to independent examination on a regular basis is, in itself, good practice and something that more in our trade ought to be doing.

Here at William Channon, we’re proud to belong to all the important organisations – the Master Locksmiths Association and the Guild of Architectural Ironmongers, for instance – and are registered under the TrustMark scheme (this a Government-backed organisation that endorses its members standards and says we’re a reputable firm). This latest membership – our safecontractor accreditation – is no less significant, proving as it does that excellence is always our aim and that in choosing us, tradesmen to trust, our customers and clients are always in safe hands.