Commitment to Health and Safety Underlined at QPA Awards
FULL WINNERS LIST AVAILABLE HERE.
UK quarry operators battled it out to take home the industry's
top health and safety accolades today at the QPA Health and Safety
Best Practice Awards in London. The event welcomed key note speaker
Judith Hackitt CBE, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission,
who spoke about the industry's exemplary performance in improving
its health and safety record.
A record 205 entries were received by the QPA in 2007, almost
doubling last year's tally, and underlining the industry's commitment
to improving performance. The initial entries had been reduced
to an eventual 73 prize-winning submissions (from trophy-winner
to certificate of merit) across seven principal categories. The
seven independent judges embarked on extensive tours of Britain
to assess, first hand, all short listed site entries, before agreeing
on award recipients.
As ever, the two most prestigious prizes in the competition were
the Sir Frank Davies Trophy, awarded to the most outstanding health
and safety performance specifically for smaller companies, and
the John Crabbe Trophy, presented for overall excellence in health
and safety. This year, the Sir Frank Davies trophy went to Blasting
Services Ltd for the second year running, with the most prestigious
overall prize - the John Crabbe Trophy - being presented to CEMEX
UK.
Beyond the overarching awards, prizes were also presented for
achievements in seven key areas:
- Occupational Health, Hygiene & Welfare
- Slips, Trips & Falls
- Management of Contractors
- Working at Height
- Worker Involvement
- Bitumen Tank Management
- Other Initiatives
Each category reflects a crucial and topical health and safety
priority (see attached winners' grid for full category results)
with innovative approaches to tackling the challenges picking
up the awards. A further special award was also presented in 2007
to Ennstone plc in recognition of it showing the greatest improvement
in its health and safety record over recent years.
Commenting on the London event, Simon van der Byl, Director General
of QPA said: "The 2007 Awards will go down as the most competitive
yet, with a truly astonishing number of entries from our operators.
This surely underlines the industry's genuine commitment to tackling
the health and safety challenges and the lengths companies are
willing to go to reach our shared expectation of zero accidents.
Every one of our many winners today is worthy of congratulation,
but special praise must go to our top winner in 2007, CEMEX and,
for a second year, Blasting Services Ltd, both of whom have really
raised the bar for this most vital area of our businesses."
Keynote Speaker and newly-appointed Chair of the Health and Safety
Commission, Judith Hackitt CBE, similarly praised the industry's
exemplary efforts: "Over the last few years the quarrying
industry has demonstrated an impressive performance. You have
more than halved the accident rate within the sector and, by doing
so, you have set a example to others in your industry and to other
sectors of what can be done."
PHOTOS AVAILABLE FROM 22 October from Martin Isles, Director Health
and Safety - 020 7963 8000
ENDS
QPA Contact: Tim
Parry or Martin
Isles - 020 7963 8000.
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