The winners will be selected from this shortlist and announced [...]]]> All the entries for the Inspiring Safety Awards 2013 reached a very high standard and it was a tough job to narrow the field. However, they have now been through the preliminary judging process and have been whittled down to the best of the best.

The winners will be selected from this shortlist and announced at The SHE Show North East at Newcastle Marriott Gosforth Park on 26 November 2013.

Category: most inspiring individual

Lisa Marie Hagan

Administrator / Health and Safety Champion

Carillion Enterprise

Lisa is one of those people who goes the extra mile. Although her main job is in admin, she is driven to come up with ideas that improve safety at Carillion’s offices in Anglesey.

“She is passionate about keeping people safe,” says Peter Green, MD of Carillion, “and has taken it upon herself to get involved and develop her own skills in health and safety.”

It is for her ideas within the company’s Behaving Safely programme that she is most valued, coming up with Hazard Awareness Workshops and driving a scheme called Don’t Walk By. She also runs an office safety improvement group. She works with supplier and client companies as well as with Carillion staff and was made the company’s Health and Safety Champion in 2010.

An her passion extends to developing her own skills: she completed CIEH L2 and the IOSH Managing Safety course and is now working on the NEBOSH General Certificate.

Lisa’s ideas have contributed to a positive safety culture, she believes. But importantly, she is still looking for ways to improve.

Gary Piper

ESH Technician

Wrigley Company

When the HSE’s Estates Excellence Programme reached Plymouth, Gary spotted an excellent way for his company to support its local community. And he got involved with gusto.

The HSE programme encourages safety experts from large companies to help smaller organisations and commercial landlords. Gary lead a team which visits other businesses around Plymouth and helps them assess their health and safety. They look at COSHH, manual handling, fire and noise and suggest practical and cost-effective ways to improve.

Gary also provides free training where people are struggling and offers advice and procedures based on his health and safety experience.

Joy Jones of the HSE says of Gary: “Wrigley’s involvement gave huge credibility to the programme and his personal enthusiam, commitment and confidence was inspirational.”

Recently, Gary extended the initiative, offering the same sort of help to the charities Wrigley works with.

Stephen Race

Health, Safety & Training Manager

Seymour (Civil Engineering Contractors) Ltd

Stephen is changing the way people think about health and safety. He sees his own role as far more than meeting regulations or covering the company’s back. He wants to protect people from coming to harm.

Seymour undertakes big construction projects like main drainage or harbour protection and it is all too easy for workers to see health and safety as something that gets in the way. But Stephen has instilled the trust needed for the workforce to commit to safety and to get involved.

Stephen’s secret is that he listens. That way people come to see that their opinions count and managers will act on their suggestions. Stephen put in place open discussions and suggestion schemes that give people a real sense of ownership.

“Without his involvement, I believe heath and safety would be seen as a hindrance,” says Dan Athley, Stephen’s boss. “His personalised approach has really allowed operatives  to get involved and want to think and act safely.”

Category: most inspiring team or organisation

Blueberry Foods

 There’s many a health and safety manager would give their eye teeth to see an injury incident rate chart like Blueberry Foods’. A cliff-edge drop culminating, from September 2012, in a steady zero.

The company, which makes chilled desserts, introduced a health and safety strategy aimed at engaging its 250 employees and 150 agency workers. Training safety reps and improving communications were key to this. But they also improved the way they did risk assessments and standardised procedures.

Management buy-in was vital, and health and safety is now a business priority for the company. The policy is zero tolerance of incidents and learning from mistakes to prevent recurrence.

Historically, Blueberry foods had a monthly incident injury rate between 1000 and 1600. That dropped sharply as the strategy came into effect, and in the space of a year had fallen to zero.

GE Power and Water Irl, Whitegate Power Station

Whitegate Power Station in County Cork, Ireland is all about the numbers. It has a zero injury rate over the last four years. That period includes the time 400 people were employed building it.

How they’re achieving this safety record is also down to numbers: 27 risk-reduction projects in 2012, another 42 by the summer of 2013. But the numbers tell the story of an extraordinary commitment by the people at the plant. There are weekly safety meetings where everyone is encouraged to get involved. Hazard hunts reward improvements in safety and trigger the risk-reduction projects. Above all, there is a commitment to ensure everyone goes home safe every day.

One risk-reduction project made sure vehicles were ready for winter. But it didn’t stop at company and contractor vehicles, it was also applied to employees’ own cars. This made site traffic safer but also reduces the chance of an accident when people are on their way to work.

The site is planning OHSAS18001 audits by the beginning of 2014.

McVities, Carlisle

This world-famous biscuit maker decided to formalise its commitment to safety by implementing the OHSAS18001 safety management system at its Carlisle plant. The key was to get all 850 staff involved. The first stage was a due diligence process to see how they were doing.

One day each month is given over to reviewing safety management en route to OHSAS18001. This includes checking weekly inspections, risk assessments and near-miss reporting. Although designed to catch any weaknesses, a big part of this review process has been spotting where people have been doing well. Highlighting and thanking employees where their approach to safety has been good is helping renew the company’s commitment to improving safety management.

McVities believes safety is the responsibility of everyone and the company aims to involve all its employees is health and safety activities. They have trained people from all areas of the company in a process called safe working observation procedure. These people have a target of using the process to discuss safety with others at least twice a month.

Category: most inspiring initiative or campaign

Babcock Marine and Technology (for IIF – Home Safe Every Day)

There is no if in IIF for Babcock Marine and Technology. The Incident and Injury Free – Home Safe Every Day project is a joint initiative between Babcock, the MoD and the Royal Navy at HM Naval Base at Faslane on the River Clyde. It is a full scale behavioural safety programme which motivates people to improve their own safety and that of everyone around them. The aim is improve the safety culture across the whole naval base.

The top-down programme started with workshops for the most senior managers and worked its way down to line supervisors. Each month, board directors visit various parts of the site to discuss safety issues and demonstrate their commitment. A reward and recognition scheme reinforces positive safety behaviour. This year, for the first time, the programme included a safety conference with the theme everyone has a role to encourage team-working and improvement across the site.

In five years, the number of RIDDOR reportable accidents has decreased by 58% and the total of injury accidents is down by 33%. In the same period, near-miss reporting went up by over 1000%.

Crossrail Ltd (for Crossrail Gateway)

Crossrail Gateway is a scheme to evaluate the standards of contractors for leadership and behavioural safety. By measuring and recognising excellence, it helps them become (and remain) world class in health and safety.

Europe’s largest construction project, Crossrail will provide a 100km link between East and West London, including 42km of new tunnels. More than 10,000 people work across 40 sites. Work on the project peaks between now and 2015.

Ensuring consistently high safety standards across a network of contractors and partner companies is a major challenge and Gateway has been central to that. But it aims to do more than simply check safety standards. It creates a healthy competition among suppliers to maintain their zero injuries goal. It allows them to benchmark their performance against each other and share best practice.

This mixture of assessment, competition and reward is encouraging companies in the scheme to explore better ways to achieve safety and adopt innovative solutions.

Shepherd Engineering Services Ltd (for Going Live)

People who work on a construction site face a whole new hazard when electrical systems begin to be switched on. The risk can be high and, because it is a technically complex area, many who work on site feel a little unsure.

Shepherd Engineering Services’ Going Live initiative solves the problem by telling everyone who works in this phase of construction about the electrical installation process and how it relates to their project. It gives them confidence about how to do their own job safely and it gives them a point of contact if they have questions about electrical safety.

Shepherd tailors its presentations, so people get more than a generic safety talk. They understand how electrical safety best practice applies to the project they are actually working on.

One construction manager who, prior to the electrical installations being energised had put  all his site foremen, supervisors managers, subcontractors and facilities managers through the Going Live presentation comments: “The sessions where delivered in a professional, structured manner with specific reference to this project. The end result was zero related incidents.”

There were three main categories and a special international award.

John Mulholland, Slicing Manager at Midshire Foods was named Most Inspiring Individual 2012, in recognition of his safety programme based on his long experience [...]]]> The Inspiring Safety Awards were presented by safety guru Ken Woodward on 26 June 2012 at a special ceremony in Blackpool.

There were three main categories and a special international award.

John Mulholland, Slicing Manager at Midshire Foods was named Most Inspiring Individual 2012, in recognition of his safety programme based on his long experience as a ham slicer. The results speak for themselves. In a period when the workforce has doubled, the number of injuries has reduced to only 15% of what it was ten years ago.

Storengy UK was presented with the prize for Most Inspiring Team or Organisation 2012. In the construction of a gas storage facility, the company saw only one reportable incident in 1.8 million man hours of effort. The secret was the total team approach.

Highland Spring Group was awarded the Most Inspiring Campaign or Initiative 2012 for a safety training programme that was both memorable and fun. Staff visit a safari park as part of the course, and make risk assessments and figure out hazards and controls for some of the most dangerous animals including lions, tigers and rhinos.

Special international awards were made to Coca Cola Hellenic, Athens, Greece; National Drilling Company, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Princess Cruises, California, USA.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Rob Coyle, Managing Director of Lattitude Productions which organises the awards, said: “This was the first time we have run these awards and I think everyone was impressed with the standard of the entries. It just shows how much good work is going on to inspire people to behave more safely.”

The awards were presented by Ken Woodward, himself one of the most inspiring figures in safety. Since he was blinded by an accident at work in 1990, he has travelled the world, dedicating his life to creating positive safety cultures wherever he goes.

A full list of award winners and those Highly Commended can be found at http://www.inspiringsafetyawards.co.uk/2012-winners/

For more information on Lattitude Productions visit http://www.lattitudeproductions.co.uk

For more information on Ken Woodward visit http://www.kenwoodward.co.uk

The awards celebrate imagination, passion and achievements in behavioural safety. They are the first of their kind. There are three categories: most inspiring individual, most inspiring team or organisation, most inspiring campaign or initiative.

Among the shortlisted finalists are a [...]]]> The shortlist of finalists for the Inspiring Safety Awards was published today, 11 April 2012.

The awards celebrate imagination, passion and achievements in behavioural safety. They are the first of their kind. There are three categories: most inspiring individual, most inspiring team or organisation, most inspiring campaign or initiative.

Among the shortlisted finalists are a company whose bosses cook their teams a hot lunch, a man who thought it made more sense to train forklift drivers in the factory they were going to be driving around, and a group who learns how to do risk assessments in the tiger enclosure of a safari park.

“I was thrilled at the high standard of entries,” said Rob Coyle, Managing Director of Lattitude Productions which organises the awards. “It is amazing to see the enthusiasm and energy people put into making life safer for others. It is time these people get the credit they deserve and I hope the Inspiring Safety Awards can go some way to achieving that.”

More details of the shortlisted finalists.

Hilton Blackpool, Lancashire
26 June 2012

The SHE Show is a high profile conference running alongside an exhibition featuring key suppliers and service providers in the fields of safety, health and environment. Now in its fourth year it is fast becoming one of the most successful events of its kind [...]]]>

Hilton Blackpool, Lancashire
26 June 2012

The SHE Show is a high profile conference running alongside an exhibition featuring key suppliers and service providers in the fields of safety, health and environment. Now in its fourth year it is fast becoming one of the most successful events of its kind in the SHE arena.

The 2012 programme will again be chaired by Gerard Forlin QC who will present the police and barrister’s approach to gross negligence in the workplace alongside Detective Inspector Jim Coy of North Wales Police.

Ken Woodward OBE will discuss his workplace accident at Coca-Cola in which he lost his eyesight as well as his sense of taste and smell. This will be followed closely by the perspective of Bob Cameron the former Vice President Manufacturing of Coca-Cola Schweppes & Beverages who will talk about the repercussions of the accident both on a personal and professional level.

Other speakers who will take to the stage throughout the day are: David Hitchcock talking about the ageing workforce; Nobby Clark looking at driving safely and the importance of vehicle safety checks and the legal implications. The event will draw to a close with an incredible story of teamwork, courage and self belief from Pete Goss MBE, the first Brit to complete the ‘Vendee Globe’ – a non-stop single-handed round-the-world yacht race.

The focus of the day will be real practical solutions and you will be able to get help and advice on ways to achieve the future challenges that most SHE professionals face in this current climate.

The 2012 event will also see the presentation of the new Inspiring Safety Awards presented by Ken Woodward OBE. The awards represent an exciting opportunity to acknowledge and thank the efforts of those who represent the future direction of the health and safety community.

It will attract hundreds of visitors who need advice and guidance from the experts and who want to see new products and technologies and find out about the latest news on emerging legislation. Delegates are senior professionals across all industry sectors and The SHE Show is also an excellent opportunity to network with like-minded colleagues.

The SHE Show 2012 is sponsored by Kellogg’s and Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd and Partnered by Lattitude, Safety Groups UK and EEF. Further information can be found by visiting www.thesheshow-northwest.com and stand space is from £1,050 plus VAT with delegate registration priced at £95 plus VAT.

We want to bring safety professionals together to share their experiences, to talk about what really works, to focus on inspiring people to [...]]]> We want to hear your inspiring safety stories
We are running a campaign called Inspiring Safety. The idea is to focus on the things that galvanise people to behave more safely.

We want to bring safety professionals together to share their experiences, to talk about what really works, to focus on inspiring people to better safety practices. We’ll be pulling together case-studies and letting you know about approaches from a variety of industry sectors.

But you can be involved too. If you have a story about how your colleagues have been inspired to better safety, we’d love to hear it. It could be about an unusual training initiative or an individual who goes that extra mile. It could be about a major programme with a huge impact or a small, everyday change that had a real effect.

“We hope that our Inspiring Safety campaign will foster more creative thinking about health and safety”

Inspiring people is at the heart of our philosophy here at Lattitude. We make training films with a difference. They don’t just tell people what to do, they get people thinking. We hope they inspire people to work in a better, safer way.

But we think that safety at work is too important to leave it there. We hope that our Inspiring Safety campaign will foster more creative thinking about health and safety; that it will help industries work together to come up with new and better ways to make the workplace safe.

If you have a story that will inspire, please call or email me with brief details. We’ll credit you and your organisation. And maybe, just maybe, your story will inspire someone else.

If you have a story to tell, then please email Rob or call him on +44 (0)1435831500.