HEYSHAM Power Station's safety records have been praised by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

Both sites have been given the prestigious President's Awards from RoSPA for their records over the past 12 months.

Heysham 1's and 2's exemplary safety records have won the stations a first and second President's Award respectively - recognising more than a decade of continuous improvement in industrial safety.

President's awards are only awarded after five consecutive years of winning gold.

The society announced the site's success in occupational safety, along with a series of similar awards for other stations within British Energy.

David Barber, Heysham 1's station director, said: "This is independent recognition of the station's continuous efforts to make the site a safe place to work.

"One of the factors is that RoSPA want continuous improvement year on year to get these awards, and we now have a decade of safety improvements under our belt.

However we are not complacent and this award was for last year, what we have to do is ensure we get the second award next year."