RoSPA Press Office : Press Release
January 17, 2001
COMPANIES AWARDED TOP SAFETY PRIZE AT HOUSE OF LORDS
Two safety-conscious companies have each been presented with a prestigious award from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the Esso Petroleum Company.
Andrew Robertson, production manager for Hydram Engineering, County Durham, and Matthew Webster, of road surfacing and civil engineering company, Frank Tucker Ltd, Bradford, were both awarded the RoSPA/Esso Scholarship.
The scholarship is entirely funded by Esso, and was set up to help individuals in small companies with little or no safety expertise.
Lord Whitty, Under Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions made the presentations at the House of Lords yesterday.
The winners received the scholarship after submitting a 500-word essay, which explained how and why the training would benefit their employers in terms of health and safety.
John Howard, RoSPA Director of Safety Policy, said that helping small firms to improve their approach to health and safety issues had to be a very clear priority.
Health and safety expertise was heavily concentrated in larger companies. Ways had to be found to unlock this in order to provide motivation and support for smaller firms who needed to upgrade their health and safety management.
"The overall approach has to be as non-bureaucratic as possible, keeping documentation no longer or more complex than it needs to be, and encouraging each business to generate its own simple ‘health and safety action plan’ in its own way," he said.
The scholarship consists of a 10-day RoSPA-organised National General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health course, which concludes with the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health examination.
For details of the 2001 scholarship, contact David Walker, RoSPA Awards Manager, 0121 248 2091, e-mail dwalker@rospa.com.
Photographs are available from the RoSPA press office, 0121 248 2134/5.
