RoSPA Awards : 2008 Roll of Honour : Citations
The Sir George Earle Trophy
Trant Construction Limited
Trant Construction were selected as the 2008 winners of the Sir George Earle Trophy after they demonstrated how a strong health and safety ethos, led from board level, had been successful not only in preventing accidents and health damage, but in ensuring the commercial success of a growing family-owned business.
Recognising that Trant had sound management systems in place, the Panel was particularly impressed by their culture of rapid and informal communications and mutual support. Features which were considered outstanding were hands-on health and safety leadership by all Trant’s directors and senior managers - from board room to site level, their practical approach to training and briefing, their disciplined use of point-of-work risk assessments, the involvement of employees in reporting and solving problems, their eagerness to learn from accidents and incidents and the creative approaches which they had developed to occupational health and well-being and the induction, training and supervision of migrant workers.
In the Panel’s view these ingredients had contributed substantially to Trant achieving an outstanding injury-free record, even when working on highly challenging projects to tough deadlines.
RoSPA Distinguished Service Award
Margaret Burns CBE
Margaret Burns made a major contribution to improving health and safety in Great Britain. She was appointed to the Health and Safety Commission in April 1998 with the specific role of representing the wider public interest. Drawing on her background in law and the Scottish Consumer Council, she carried out this role for 9 years with enthusiasm, energy and distinction, winning the respect of her Commission colleagues and HSE staff.
Margaret became the first independent Chair of HSC’s Rail Industry Advisory Committee. At a time of tension and disagreements between the industry and the HSC/E on the appropriate and proportionate response to major lapses in rail safety, Margaret played an exemplary role in promoting the Commission’s independent and evidence based view. The improvement in rail passenger safety owes much to Margaret’s diplomacy and determination.
She brought her inquiring mind to the nuclear industry, where protection of the public is paramount: in private she acted as a critical friend to HSE, challenging the views of experts; in public she championed the cause of public safety and the work of HSE.
Not surprisingly, given her home in Aberdeen, Margaret also gave valuable help to HSE colleagues in the Offshore Oil Division. And it is in Scotland where Margaret’s contribution will be particularly remembered. She convinced her Commission colleagues that regard had to be paid to Scotland’s legal and political institutions and to its own Health and Safety problems. She became the first chair of the new Partnership Committee which will do much to ensure that all stakeholders work together to improve health and safety in Scotland.
Never afraid to challenge, committed to promoting the public interest, and fun to work with, Margaret is a fitting recipient of the Distinguished Service Award.
Michael Clapham MP
Michael Clapham has played an important role in keeping questions of health and safety at the forefront of debate in Parliament.
Born in 1943 in Barnsley, he left school at the age of 15 years without any formal qualifications. After beginning work at Dodworth Colliery he went on to successfully complete 'O' and 'A' levels in the evenings and to study for degree at Leeds Polytechnic. He later gained a Postgraduate Certificate of Education at Leeds University and then a Master of Philosophy degree at Bradford University. In 1992, after a period in teaching and working as Head of Industrial Relations for the National Union of Mineworkers, he entered Parliament as MP for Barnsley West and Penistone.
Serving as a Parliamentary Private Secretary and a Member of the Trade and Industry Select Committee, Mr Clapham worked hard to keep fellow MPs aware of issues as diverse as pulmonary lung disease, construction safety, needle stick injuries, violence and bullying at work, carbon monoxide poisoning and asbestos.
As Chair of the All-Party Occupational Safety and Health Group and Vice-Chair of the All-Party Fire Safety Group, he has sought to foster links between health and safety organisations and MPs and Peers. He has campaigned tirelessly to further the cause of ill health prevention and in securing better compensation for miners for occupational diseases and for victims of asbestos. Honoured in 2007 by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health for his lifetime contribution to health and safety, Michael Clapham has a proud record of working vigorously to secure better conditions for all people at work.
Professor Trevor Kletz OBE
Famed worldwide for his development of the technique of Hazard and Operability Studies, Professor Trevor Kletz has made a fundamental contribution to the assessment and control of risks associated with the design, operation and maintenance of chemical process plant.
Educated in Chester and at the University of Liverpool, in 1944 he graduated with a first in chemistry and joined Imperial Chemical Industries, where he progressed through various production roles to become Assistant Works manager at Billingham Oil Works.
In 1968 he was appointed as ICI’s first technical safety advisor, helping the company to achieve dramatic improvements in process safety.
In 1978 he was appointed Visiting Professor of Chemical Engineering at Loughborough University of Technology, later becoming a full Professor and also being awarded a DSc.
Since retiring from ICI in 1982, Trevor has developed a second career as a consultant and prolific writer, commentator and lecturer on all aspects of process safety. His 11 books and well over 100 papers have had an enormous impact on students and practitioners alike, both in and outside the process industries. His many accolades include prestigious honours from the UK Institution of Chemical Engineers and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. In 1997 he was awarded an OBE for his services to process safety.
His former ICI boss Sir John Harvey-Jones once observed: “Trevor single-handedly taught us to look at safety in a different way. He will, I am sure, always sleep soundly at night, secure in the knowledge that his persistence, imagination and passion have saved countless numbers of his fellow men from injury, mutilation and even death.”
Professor Frank Wright
Professor Frank Wright has made a substantial contribution to teaching, research and public policy in the field of occupational health, safety and environmental law.
Currently Professor of Law at the University of Warwick, he was Professor of Law in the University of Salford from 1997 to 2005 and an Associate Dean of Faculty and member of the University Management Group from 2002 to 2005. A leading specialist in his field, he has completed numerous research projects for the European Commission and the Health and Safety Executive. He has given influential written and oral evidence to Parliamentary Select Committees on major issues, including the law relating to corporate manslaughter and has served as British Government Adviser before the European Court of Justice in relation to transposition of EU health and safety Directives into UK law. He contributed greatly to the sanction of disqualification for company directors found guilty of health and safety offences and to new guidance from HSC and the Institute of Directors on directors’ responsibilities. A prolific author, he has published over 150 papers and contributions to collected works. He serves as a member of many important adjudication panels; he is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, the Royal Institute of Public Health and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and he is a Member of both the International Council and the IUCN Commissions on Environmental Law.
Professor Wright's quiet but powerful influence has done much to help ensure the continuing evolution of a sound structure of health and safety law, fit for the 21st Century.
|
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 |
 |