For the last 10 years, the IOSH Food and Drink Industries Group has run an award scheme in conjunction with the HSE-led national Food and Drink Manufacture Health and Safety Forum (FDMF).
The awards recognise innovative projects that have produced a practical solution to and made a positive impact on, occupational safety and health problem in the industry.
The aim of the awards is to acknowledge the success of the winning entries and to share their example of good practice to inspire others. Applications to enter the 2020 Awards are now open.
Doug Russell, IOSH Food and Drink Industry Group Committee member and chair of the judging panel said: “Over the years we have seen many inspiring entries. Whether projects are large or small they have all been able to show a major impact on safety or health in the workplace. Often, they demonstrate other business benefits such as improved productivity or reduced costs. The best thing for the judges has been to see the positive impact that the awards have made on worker engagement and better risk management.”
The winner of the 2019 Awards was AB Azucarera Iberia. After years of improving health and safety performance, the company was experiencing stagnation in its results. It had been using traditional lost-time accident indicators- reacting to failure and measuring the absence of safety.
The company addressed this by involving employees in a new culture to measure the presence of safety rather than simply measuring the absence of accidents.
This new approach let to a step-change in their safety and health performance and helped to integrate safety and health management into the way they operate across all their sites.
Runners up were Allied Bakers Belfast for a new system of health and safety champions working with line managers to ensure better management of risks and James Finlay’s tea and coffee producers for a global initiative on occupational health and well-being.
Entry is free and open to anyone working in the industry anywhere in the world. Individual or team entries can be submitted.
The winner and two runners up get a free place at the annual FDMF Health and Safety Conference where they have an opportunity to share their project and a small cash prize.
To enter for the 2020 Awards and to see more details of previous winners visit the IOSH website before the closing date: 06 July 2020.
