RoSPA Awards – Frequently Asked Questions
General informationQ Have you received my entry?
A Please do not ring us to ask this question. We are currently processing all the entries and will not be able to answer the enquiry until processing is complete. Once processed, we will notify you. Meanwhile, if you sent your entry Royal Mail recorded delivery or used a courier service you will be able to confirm receipt by contacting them direct.
Q When will I know the outcome of the judging, and what level of award we might have achieved?
A Please do not ring us to ask this question. If your entry was for an achievement award, and was amongst those arriving early, we aim to issue the first results in early March. We cannot guarantee this date, however, as verification may require additional time.
If your entry is for a sector award or specialist award, the results will definitely not be available until Easter week at the earliest.
Q I have missed the closing date: will you still accept our entry?
A If your entry is for an achievement award we will still be able to accept your submission but it is unlikely to be judged in time for presentation at the NEC ceremonies in May. Should you wish to have your award presented we will give you the option of attending our September award ceremonies in Glasgow.
If you wish to enter the sector awards this year or specialist awards please call us on 0121 248 2090 to discuss.
Q Our entry may arrive late; will we be charged a late entry fee?
A If your entry has not arrived in time we will contact you if payment of a late entry penalty is required.
Q Our organisation has not entered for a RoSPA Award before. What do we do?
A Please read through the entry form and Guidance Notes booklet which you can either download from the RoSPA website or we will post to you on request. The instructions are straightforward but if you need any advice, we will be pleased to help.
Q What type of award should we apply for?
A You can choose between entering for an Achievement Award, which recognises your organisation's performance against the judging criteria; and the competitive Industry Sector Awards, which involve your entry also being compared with the others from the same industry sector in order to identify the ‘best in class’. A greater amount of supporting evidence (though still not greater in volume than a three-inch A4 folder) is required for an entry for the Industry Sector Award.
The winner of the ultimate award recognising health and safety performance – the Sir George Earle Trophy – is selected from a short-list of the top Industry Sector Award winners.
Q What happens if we enter for but don’t win an Industry Sector Award?
In each industry sector there is one Sector Award winner and normally one or more entries are either Highly Commended or Commended if they are close to the standard achieved by the Sector winner. Unsuccessful Industry Sector Award entries are automatically re-assessed for the appropriate level of achievement award (normally Gold) or a sustained achievement award.
Q How would we win a Gold Medal, President’s Award or the RoSPA Order of Distinction?
A These awards are made for ‘sustained achievement’ after winning 5, 10 and 15 consecutive Gold Awards respectively.
Q What are the ‘Specialist Awards’?
A Specialist awards are made in the areas of
- environmental management (The RoSPA International Dilmun Environmental Award, sponsored by Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company)
- health and safety training (The RoSPA Training Trophy)
- occupational health management (The Astor Trophy)
- management of occupational road risk (Achievement Awards and the RoSPA MORR Trophy)
There is no additional entry fee, but a submission for one or more of these must accompany (but be separate from) an entry for either an Achievement Award or an Industry Sector Award.
The submission must address the points shown for the respective award in the Guidance Notes.
In addition, all eligible entries will be considered for
- The RoSPA Workforce Involvement in Safety and Health Trophy, sponsored by Springfields Fuels Ltd (all Industry Sector Award entries)
- the RoSPA Scotland Trophy (entries from organisations based in or operating in Scotland). Entry is automatic for organisations with a Scotland postcode.
Q Our organisation has previously entered the RoSPA Awards, but this year we have merged with other unit(s)/companies. Should we enter as a whole or individually - and what happens about our past record in the Awards scheme?
A Ideally you should enter as separate units (which should all show local evidence of implementation of the corporate systems). If you choose to submit a combined entry for the merged organisation and some but not all constituent units have previously won sustained achievement awards (Gold Medal, President’s Award or Order of Distinction) RoSPA will judge the appropriate level of award for the new body. For mergers of different companies, the retention of a past record in the RoSPA Awards scheme will depend on the merged organisation’s health and safety management system performance being the same or better than the one recognised previously by a RoSPA Award.
Q Why is there a difference in cost between the entry fee for the competitive sector awards and the achievement awards?
A This reflects the fact that the assessment of Sector Award entries typically takes considerably longer due to the greater amounts of supporting evidence required, and the selection of winners involves additional stages of judging.
Q We use the RoSPA QSA auditing system. Do we still have to submit a full entry, including a supporting evidence folder?
A It depends what type of award you are entering: For an achievement award, if your organisation has achieved QSA Level 2 or above, you just need to complete an entry form and return it to RoSPA together with evidence of your QSA status. For the Industry Sector Awards, a full entry submission is still required, including answers to the 10 Key Performance Questions and the cross-referenced folder of supporting evidence. This is because all entries need as far as possible to be in the same format to maximise the consistency of assessment. Also, entries for the Industry Sector Awards are judged by independent assessors who may not be familiar with the QSA system.
Preparing your entry submission
Q When answering the Key Performance Questions, does the limit of 5 x A4 pages (minimum point size 10) apply to each of the 10 questions or in total?
A The five page summary is the total permitted for your concise answers to all ten KPQs. These answers should be cross-referenced to relevant documents in the supporting evidence folder. Click here to see a 'sample' submission.
Q Does it matter if we don’t answer the KPQs?
A Yes – it is important that entries address the KPQs and do not just present a random selection of health and safety documents. Entries that fail to follow the required format risk being penalised and perhaps not achieve the award they might otherwise merit.
Q. What if we cannot provide any corporate KPIs such as audit scores?
A This will not affect the level of award. Provision of this information is not mandatory but can help adjudicators to confirm their judgements about the level of award to be made.
Q Why do you ask what industry sector we operate in?
A For the competitive sector awards, this is to ensure that as far as possible entries are compared to organisations with the same risk profiles as themselves. For award winners in general, the industry sector is used when gaining publicity for award winners, and also for administrative purposes when organising the presentation ceremonies.
Q We use Accident Frequency Rates rather than Accident Incidence Rates. Are these acceptable?
A No, the required RIDDOR data should be provided as Incidence Rates, calculated as shown in the Guidance Notes. This is to allow comparisons as far as possible on a common basis. However, please note that in determining the level of award, more important than the accident statistics data are your answers to the ten KPQs, which are designed to probe important aspects of your organisation’s health and safety management systems and culture.
Q How do we find out our Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code?
A Please refer to the SIC Code / Incidence RateTable. If you are having difficulty determining your SIC code(s) from this table click on the link below to see an alphabetical list of work activities. Find the description(s) that best fits your organisation - the SIC(92) Code is the two digits to the left of the decimal point in the right hand column.
SIC Code Alphabetical List
Q Our organisation covers several different activities and therefore has several SIC Codes. How do we decide which is the most appropriate SIC Code incidence rate to quote?
A The most appropriate rate to quote is that for the SIC Code/activity in which the greatest number of employees are engaged.
Q We would like to gain recognition for the performance at several different sites/branches within our organisation – what should we do?
A As well as documents such as the corporate health and safety policy, you should include information relating to the individual sites, eg local risk assessments, local H&S meetings, local inspections, evidence of local monitoring activities, local audit results (if applicable) etc. Failure to provide evidence of local implementation of procedures etc is likely to limit the award achieved.
Q Should we include contractor/sub-contractor staff in our total number of employees?
A No – numbers of contractors’ staff can vary widely throughout the year. However, you should as far as possible summarise contractors’/sub-contractors’ significant RIDDOR events (fatalities and major injuries) as these help illustrate your level of success in managing your contractors. You might consider encouraging your contractors to submit an awards entry in their own right!
Q We do not have full accident data for our contractors / sub contractors (Entry Form section 3.4). What should we do?
A Supply what information you do have, but this must at least include a brief description of any fatal or major injury accidents involving contractors/sub-contractors. Please note that for the competitive Industry Sector Awards, deficiencies in this data could make the difference between success and failure. In addition, please note that failure to declare contractors’/sub-contractors’ adverse events that occurred within the awards period may result in an award being withdrawn, particularly if the Awards Panel’s original decision would have been different had all relevant information been disclosed.
Q Why isn’t the entry form available as an editable electronic file?
A An editable electronic file would result in entry forms being returned to us by email. We have to discourage this as it would increase the incidence of incomplete entries. The supporting evidence folder is an important requirement and this generally cannot be emailed and will still need to be sent by post. Matching up the different parts of entries would be a major administrative task - particularly at the peak entry time.
Q We’ve seen that RoSPA is promoting ‘24/7’ safety alongside the Awards, but we do not currently have any initiatives in this area. Will this count against us?
A No - Achievement award entries are judged on their occupational health and safety performance and will not be penalised. However, when competing for the Industry Sector Awards (and the Sir George Earle Trophy), 24/7 initiatives are one of several ‘bonus’ features that help the judges differentiate between the top performers. Additional information on these can be seen in ‘Sir George Earle Trophy – Getting in Contention’.
Q If our application is successful what will our award be?
A Achievement Award winners receive a framed certificate and are entitled to use the appropriate Award logo on their corporate letterhead and to fly the RoSPA Awards flag. IIndustry Sector Award winners receive an engraved trophy to be held permanently, with Highly Commended and Commended sector award entries receiving an engraved plaque or a framed certificate respectively. Winners are entitled to use the appropriate logo on their corporate letterhead and to fly the RoSPA Awards flag.
Major trophy winners retain the appropriate trophy for one year and also receive a commemorative plaque to retain permanently. They are entitled to use the appropriate logo on their corporate letterhead and to fly the RoSPA Awards flag.
Q When will we hear the result of our award application?
A The result of the assessment of your entry will be communicated to you at the earliest stage - and as far in advance of the presentation ceremonies as possible. An estimated date will be shown on the letter acknowledging receipt of your entry.
Q What if we would like feedback on our submission?
A Provision of brief feedback is included in the Sector Award entry fee. Feedback can be provided for Achievement Award entries for an additional fee.
Q What happens if our RoSPA Award entry is unsuccessful?
A If your entry does not merit any level of award, we will inform you of the reasons. However, please note that the entry fee will not be refundable because the submission will have undergone the administration and assessment processes that the fee covers.
Q How do we qualify for the early entry discount?
A Send your entry to arrive at RoSPA on or before 28th January 2008 to qualify for a £50 discount on the appropriate standard entry fee. Entries received after this date and up to the 15th February closing date will be charged the full standard rate.
Q What happens if our award entry arrives after the closing date?
A Sector Awards: The entry will risk being excluded from the competitive award and may be assessed for an achievement award instead.
Achievement Awards: The entry may incur a late fee of £50 plus VAT (at RoSPA’s discretion) and there will be no guarantee of it being assessed in time for any award to be presented at the May presentation ceremonies. In such cases, you will be able to choose between being presented with your award in September at the RoSPA Scotland event in Glasgow, or alternatively your award can be posted to you.
Q We would like our supporting evidence folder returned after judging. What do we do and when will we get it back?
A Entrants are strongly advised to keep a full copy of their submission. Please do NOT send the only copy of any document.
Indicate in Section 1.8 on the entry form if you require your submission folder to be returned and include the appropriate administration fee in your Total Payment Due:
UK entrants: £15+VAT (Total £17.63)
Overseas entrants: £25+VAT (Total £29.38)
Where requested, entries will be returned before the start of the 2009 RoSPA Awards round. However, as entries may be retained for verification and/or research purposes, return by a specific date cannot be guaranteed.
Please note - RoSPA disposes of supporting evidence folders whose return is not specifically requested and paid for using a normal paper recycling service.
Presentation ceremonies
Q If our application is successful, when will our award be presented?
A The 2008 RoSPA Awards presentation ceremonies will be held on 13th-15th May in Birmingham and in late September in Glasgow. Allocation of the respective industry groups between the Birmingham presentation ceremonies will be publicised as far in advance as possible. Award winners from Scotland and the North of England are strongly recommended to attend the Glasgow presentation ceremony. Additionally, awards resulting from late entries will normally be made at the later presentation event.
NB Most award winners choose to attend one of the presentation ceremonies in order to maximise the PR value of their success. However, on request your award can be posted to you instead.
Q How many people from our organisation can attend?
A As many people as you wish may attend the daytime presentations, and you do not need to advise names. Only one person is permitted to receive the Award on stage, while colleagues may watch. However, group photographs may be arranged (at extra cost) so that all relevant staff can share the later award publicity. One place at the evening gala dinner is included within the awards entry fee, subject to the name being advised before the publicised deadline. Additional seats may be booked, subject to availability.
Q What time should I come and what should I bring with me to the presentation?
A Please bring the notification letter in your winner’s pack. This will have the reference number for us to assist you, and the letter will also give you the times of your presentation.
Q What is the dress code for the presentation ceremonies and evening banquets?
A There is no dress code for the daytime presentations, but as the photographs taken are used for publicity purposes, most recipients choose to wear smart business attire. For the banquets, we request smart evening wear, suits, uniform (or traditional Scottish attire for the Glasgow ceremony).
Q What happens at the awards banquets?
A A pre-dinner drinks reception offers an excellent opportunity for networking. Some major awards and trophies are then presented before a high quality five-course meal, which is followed by a presentation from a top after-dinner speaker. A live band then provides music for the rest of the evening. Timings for the banquet are shown on the invitation tickets.
Q When will the awards banquet be for our industry sector?
A On the evening of the same day as the daytime presentation ceremony for your industry sector – in Birmingham on Tuesday 13th, Wednesday 14th or Thursday 15th May – or in Glasgow in September (all industry sectors). Major awards and trophies are presented before dinner at each of the banquets.
Q Can we choose which evening banquet we attend?
A Generally no. Evening banquet places are allocated for the same day as the daytime ceremonies for a particular industry sector. Some preference is given to winners of the major awards or trophies to be presented each evening and places are then allocated on a first-come-first-served basis to winners who have attended the presentation ceremonies earlier on the same day. A reserve list will operate if the capacity of the venue is reached. To avoid disappointment early booking is recommended for all award winners
Q What happens if we book a dinner table but later find we can’t make the event?
A To allow us time to re-allocate your table, if you need to cancel your booking please inform RoSPA as soon as possible. Cancellation more than 14 days before the event will not incur any penalty charge. However, please note that for later cancellations we reserve the right to charge a penalty fee, which may be up to the full cost of the booking.
Accommodation
Q How do we book accommodation at the awards presentation venue?
A A booking code is given in the winners’ pack, which will be sent out to you informing you of the result of your application. Please note that most local accommodation tends to get fully booked due to other events, so early booking is highly recommended.
Useful contact numbers: Birmingham Hilton Metropole: 0121 780 4242
Glasgow Hilton 0141 204 5555 Conference Care – 0870 4423680
|
RoSPA is a registered charity: Registered Charity No: 207823 Patron: Her Majesty the Queen RoSPA Head Office: Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7ST, UK |
 |