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CANINE ENGINEER NOSE BEST

disruption and costs.
Engineers have been deploying Midge
around six times a month, and once
sceptical engineers have since been
won over by his all-knowing nose.
NGN Engineer Alan Walker recently
used Midge after water found its way
into a gas main on Estoril Street,
Darlington. The problem was causing
low gas pressure to customers’ homes.
Alan said: “We brought Midge
in, and he found the source of the
problem almost immediately, allowing
us to dig down and get the water out of
the gas pipe.
“It’s fair to say we were all a bit
sceptical at first, but now we’ve seen
Midge in action, we are believers. We’ve
made him a fully-fledged member of
MIDGE AND STEVE the team, and are looking forward to
working with him on future jobs.”
USE OF A POLICE-trained sniffer dog to Midge’s uncanny sense of smell has Midge’s handler Steve Foster, a former
detect gas leaks has saved Northern Gas had a remarkable hit rate across the police dog handler, said: “Dogs have an
Networks more than £100,000 during company’s network, with Midge sniffing incredible sense of smell, believed to be
the past 18 months. out leaks across Yorkshire, Cumbria around 5,000 times better than humans.
As featured in the February 2018 edition and the North East of England. “Midge loves working with Northern
of Gi, Midge the spaniel is Northern Gas By helping engineers to pinpoint Gas Networks, and is out on the
Networks’ cutest engineering recruit. the precise source of leaks, Midge has network almost every week, helping the
A police-trained sniffer dog, helped reduce excavations, traffic engineers to find and fix gas leaks.”

MORRISON DATA SERVICES RECEIVES RECOGNITION practices such as leadership and

FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY EXCELLENCE workforce involvement. Morrison
Data Services received the award
in recognition of its practices and
achievements throughout 2018 in
helping employees get home safely at
the end of the working day.
Simon Best, Managing Director of
Morrison data Services, said: “Safety
is one of the core values at Morrison
Data Services. A consistent health
and safety track record is prerequisite
for the market in which we operate,
and this recognition from RoSPA
is testament to the strong health
and safety values and practices we
maintain across our business.”
Steve Quinlan, Morrison Data
Services Head of Health & Safety,
added: “This reward is a reflection
of all the good work which has been
MORRISON DATA SERVICES, a leading The award was presented during carried out across the business
data services provider to energy a ceremony at Hilton Birmingham to ensure we are conducting our
and water utility retailers in the UK Metropole hotel in June 2019. business in a safe manner. All
and Ireland, has received a Gold The RoSPA Awards scheme, which our field and office employees
Award from the Royal Society for the receives entries from organisations have contributed greatly to the
Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) at around the world, recognises achievement of this award and
the internationally-renowned RoSPA achievement in health and safety the business would like to thank all
Health and Safety Awards. management systems, including teams for their efforts.”

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