Companies offered insider advice as RoSPA’s awards deadline looms

Businesses, trade associations and local authorities are being offered expert advice to get the most out of their entry for one of the UK’s largest and most renowned occupational awards.

A special seminar takes place in Birmingham with only weeks left until the deadline for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ (RoSPA) Occupational Health and Safety Awards.

Judges will offer insight into common mistakes made by entrants, the best way to present a submission and the ideal evidence to include, at the session in De Vere Hotel, Colmore Gate, in Birmingham, from 10am to 1pm on Tuesday (November 13).

There will also be a presentation from previous winner Premier Foods, which submitted 45 entries into RoSPA’s award scheme last year, on the value a RoSPA accolade has added to the company.

RoSPA officials will highlight best practice from benchmarking to workforce involvement, and how changes to RIDDOR’s criteria for reportable lost time injuries could affect the awards scheme in the future.

David Rawlins, awards manager at RoSPA, said: “There are some exciting new additions to this year’s awards scheme including new awards for the leisure industry and academy schools.

“While the majority of awards are non-competitive, recognising entrants’ excellence in health and safety management systems, there are also a host of competitive awards for the top-performing organisations in around 20 different industries.

“The deadline of December 3 is looming, so businesses and organisations of all sizes have only a few weeks left to enter.”

RoSPA’s awards scheme, which recognises and rewards excellence in the management of occupational safety and ill health, was launched in 1956 and is now the largest and longest-running programme of its kind in the UK.
There are a number of specialist awards on offer which recognise excellence in specific areas:

• RoSPA International Dilmun Environmental Trophy, sponsored by GPIC, for the best performance in environmental management in conjunction with a high standard of work-related health and safety management.
• The Astor Trophy, sponsored by BHSF, for corporate management of occupational health
• MORR™ Awards, sponsored by Allianz, for excellence in managing work-related road safety
• RoSPA Scotland Trophy for the most outstanding performance from an organisation based in or operating in Scotland
• RoSPA Workforce Involvement in Safety & Health Trophy, sponsored by Springfield Fuels, is presented annually to the entrant that demonstrates the best involvement and contribution of employees towards health and safety management excellence
• RoSPA Academies Safety Award, sponsored by airsweb , for the most outstanding performance from an Academy School entrant

This year, entrants will submit their entries online, through the RoSPA website, for the first time using state-of-the-art web technology.

The RoSPA Awards 2013 are sponsored by NEBOSH – the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health. It is the eighth year that NEBOSH has sponsored the Awards.

For more information on the Award Entrant Guidance Seminar, visit www.rospa.com/events/awardsguidance or call 0121 248 2090 or email awards@rospa.com. The deadline for entries is December 3, 2012.