June 23, 2004—More than 1,100 businesses and organizations were honored recently at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ (RoSPA) annual Occupational Health and Safety Awards presentations. More than 1,000 winners are based in the UK, but awards were also given to organizations from overseas, including Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Republic of Ireland, Hungary, India, USA, and Bahrain. The awards program is now in its 48th year and covers all branches of business and industry.
John Howard, RoSPA Chief Executive, said, “The awards highlight a business or organization’s success in reducing occupational accidents and promoting the health of its workforce. They are about efficient business and safety management, not just a low accident record, which can be a matter of chance. The employers that take part in the awards scheme are those that invest in the well-being of their staff for the long-term benefit of their business.”
The top awards include:
- The UK’s premier occupational safety award, the Sir George Earle Trophy: FMC Technologies Limited of Dunfermline;
- The Norwich Union Trophy for small and medium-sized businesses: Mech-Tool Engineering Limited of Darlington;
- RoSPA’s Occupational Training Award, for the company or organization with the most effectively managed health and safety training program: Black & Veatch Consulting from Surrey;
- The Astor Trophy, for the organization with the best-managed occupational health program: East Riding of Yorkshire Council;
- The RoSPA trophy for managing occupational road risk: Palmer & Harvey McLane Ltd, of Hove, East Sussex, for the second year in a row; and Planned Maintenance Engineering Ltd of London is highly commended in this category.
Nearly 400 businesses and organizations from the UK’s construction and construction engineering industries were honored for their outstanding safety records over the past year. In total, the industries claimed three Order of Distinction awards, 27 President’s awards, 53 gold medals, 210 gold, 49 silver, 28 bronze, and 21 merit awards. The top awards were:
- Joint construction industry sector award winners: Birse Rail Limited of Birmingham and Central (High Rise) Limited of Nottingham. Highly commended: Haymills of London.
- The construction engineering sector award: Fluor Limited of Surrey. Taylor Woodrow Engineering & Consultancy in Bedford also received a commendation.
- The Costain Group claimed the highest number of awards, 27 total, ranging from merit to gold in status.
RoSPA commented, “Construction is inherently hazardous, but these winners are proof that risks in this sector can be managed successfully.” The awards are sponsored by RMC Group, global supplier of ready mixed concrete and a leading producer of aggregates, concrete products and other construction materials. RMC’s support has encouraged a steady growth in successful entries from the construction industries in recent years.
