CAN YOUR FIRM PROVE ITSELF TO BE A LEADER OF HEALTH AND SAFETY?

HSC press release C026:03 - 25 June 2003

The country's leading health and safety campaign, Working Well Together (WWT), opened nominations for its annual health and safety awards today. Everyone in the construction industry, no matter the size or type of organisation can enter the 4C Construction Awards for 2003 and, if successful, gain national recognition for their health and safety practices.

Supporters of this year's competition, the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), Hays Montrose, Norwest Holst, Scafftag, Birmingham Health Safety and Environment Association (BHSEA), DSM and Lincsafe, and Kevin Myers, HSE's Chief Inspector of Construction met today at a Bovis Lend Lease site near Regent Street - to celebrate past successes and launch this year's competition. They were joined by last year's WWT No. 1 Worker, Pat Dowling, who works at the Regent Street site and other past winners Carillion Building and Jomaro.

Kevin Myers said: ''The WWT 4C Construction Awards are an opportunity for the construction industry including managers, the workforce, trade unions, professionals and the supply chain to showcase what they have done to improve health and safety at work. Those that go that 'extra mile' for health and safety should get the recognition they deserve. These awards provide this opportunity.''

The winners will be announced at a prestigious awards event to be held at the Grosvenor House in London on 6 November. There are four Awards categories open to all:

• Co-operation, supported by Hays Montrose;
• Communication, supported by Scafftag;
• Competence, supported by CITB; and
• Commitment, supported by Norwest Holst.

There are further awards for:

• A small firm in the Commitment category with a cash prize of £3000, supported by BHSEA;
• A small firm for the best submission from one of the other three categories (co-operation, communication or competence) with a cash prize of £3000, supported by Demolition Services (Midlands) Ltd; and
• A No 1 Worker with a prize supported by Lincsafe.

The competition is free to enter. The closing date for the awards is 5pm on 19 September 2003, except for the No 1 Worker award, which closes at 5pm on 17 October 2003. Further information and entry forms can be downloaded from the Working Well Together website wwt.uk.com

Notes to editors

1. Last years winners were Teeside SHE, Hilti, Kier, Speedy Hire, Taylor Woodrow, Caxton Islington, Edmund Nuttall, BNFL, Carillion Building, Data Scaffolding, Jomaro and Bovis Lend Lease.

2. Sponsors of this year's awards are CITB, Hays Montrose, Norwest Holst, Scafftag, BHSEA, DSM and Lincsafe.

3. WWT is the country's largest construction health and safety campaign, with over 4,000 participating organisations. It was launched by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC)'s Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CONIAC) in 1999. WWT aims to improve performance in four key areas for health and safety - commitment, competence, communication and co-operation. The WWT campaign helpline is 0845 27 27 500. WWT website address - wwt.uk.com

4. The construction industry has committed to a step change in health and safety performance. This was demonstrated through setting challenging Revitalising targets and adopting action plans at the Construction Safety Summit, which took place on 27 February 2001. The construction industry set the following Revitalising targets for improvement. To reduce:

• the incidence rate of fatalities and major injuries by 40 per cent by 2004/5 and 66 per cent by 2009/10;
• the incidence rate of cases of work-related ill health by 20 per cent by 2004/5 and 50 per cent by 2009/10; and
• the number of working days lost from work-related injury and ill health by 20 per cent by 2004/5 and by 50 per cent by 2009/10.

Press enquiries

All enquiries from journalists should be directed to the HSE Press Office