Safety charity recognises commitment to accident and ill health prevention at work

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents presented more than 1,500 awards this week as part of the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards 2013.

Around 4,000 winners and their guests attended the safety charity’s daytime ceremonies and evening banquets, which took place in Birmingham over three days from Tuesday, May 14 – Thursday, May 16.

Morrison Utility Services was announced as the winner of RoSPA’s top award – The Sir George Earle Trophy – at a banquet on Wednesday.

Dating back 57 years, the RoSPA Awards scheme – which is sponsored by NEBOSH (the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health) – is the largest and longest-running programme of its kind in the UK. It recognises commitment to accident and ill health prevention and is open to businesses and organisations of all types and sizes from across the UK and overseas. The scheme not only looks at accident records, but also entrants’ overarching health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.

The majority of awards are non-competitive, marking achievement at merit, bronze, silver and gold levels. Organisations maintaining high standards can win gold medals, president’s awards and orders of distinction. Achievement awards are also presented for the management of occupational road risk (MORR). Competitive awards are presented in more than 20 sectors, and competitive awards also recognise excellence in specialist areas, such as MORR.

This year’s sector award winners are: Chemical – Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company; Commercial and Business Services – Home Retail Group – Argos and Homebase Stores; Construction Commercial – Morrison Utility Services; Construction Engineering – Magnox Limited; Education and Training Services – TTE Training Limited; Electricity – International Power Global Developments Ltd – Hub Power Station – Pakistan; Emergency Services – West Midlands Fire Service; Engineering Services – Finning UK Ltd; Facilities Management – EMCOR Facilities Services Ltd Atomic Weapons Establishment; Forestry – UPM Tilhill; Healthcare Services – Midland Heart; Hotel and Catering – ARAMARK Limited – UK; Housebuilding and Property Development – Keepmoat (Northern); Leisure – Serco Local Direct and Transport (Direct Services – Leisure); Manufacturing – FMC Technologies Ltd – Dunfermline; Mining and Quarrying – CEMEX UK Materials Limited – Southern Readymix; National Defence – Naval Base Commander Devonport Naval Base; Oil and Gas – Bahrain National Gas Company; Public Service and Local Government – Trent and Dove Housing Limited; Research and Development – National Physical Laboratory; Transport, Storage and Distribution – Northern Rail; Waste Management and Recycling – Studsvik UK Limited; and Water – Scottish Water.

This year’s specialist award winners are: Astor Trophy for occupational health programmes for employees, sponsored by BHSF – Premier Foods Plc; International Dilmun Environmental Award, sponsored by Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company – City Developments Limited; Workforce Involvement in Safety and Health (WISH) Trophy, sponsored by Springfields Fuels Ltd – FMC Technologies Ltd – Dunfermline; MORR Trophy, sponsored by Allianz – Tristar Transport LLC; MORR Technology Trophy, sponsored by Tesco Dotcom – CEMEX UK Operations Ltd – Logistics; SME Assistance Trophy – Solvents Industry Association; and the International Sector Award, sponsored by airsweb – Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company.

Errol Taylor, RoSPA’s deputy chief executive, said: “We extend our congratulations to all the winners in the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards 2013. Their commitment to continuous improvement in accident and ill health prevention at work provides a wealth of good practice on proactive and proportionate safety and health management to share with other organisations.”

Judging is still ongoing for organisations hoping to receive an award at the RoSPA Scotland ceremony, to be held at the Glasgow Hilton on September 19.

This week’s ceremonies and banquets took place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole hotel at the NEC, alongside Safety and Health Expo.

Visit www.rospa.com/awards/ for more information about the awards.