Safety champions set gold standard
Colleagues’ innovation, creativity, responsibility and persistence were some of the qualities recognised and rewarded during a ceremony held in honour of the prize-winners of the inaugural Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Health and Safety.
The awards, which were supported by all the campus trade unions and the Health and Safety Executive, were introduced as a way of recognising staff who have taken practical steps to address health and safety issues in their workplaces. The judges were hugely impressed by the standard of entries, which came from across the University, so much so that they decided that two entries should be awarded first prize.
The joint Gold winners, who each won £250, were the Mailroom team and Tracy Hemingway, team leader at the Ziff Café. The Mailroom team were praised for taking the initiative to develop a cheap, sustainable and effective solution to problems they were experiencing with safety on routes near Blenheim Terrace and the Student Union building.
“We didn’t expect to win anything, so winning the Gold award is a great reward,” said Ray Atkinson, assistant driver in the Mailroom. “The campus is now a safer place for pedestrians and road users, and it’s an on-going part of our work to constantly check and review how we can carry out our tasks safely, so it’s a great result all round.”
The second Gold award went to Tracy, who solved a different kind of health and safety issue when she tested and designed a soup cup holder for catering staff. Prior to Tracy’s innovative solution, several colleagues suffered burns when ladling hot soup into disposable cups. Her idea involved removing the webbing from a metal tea strainer, to create a long-handled soup cup-holder so keeping the hot liquid a safe distance from hands and fingers. The new tool immediately cut the accident rate, and has now been adopted across campus.
“I’m the type of person that likes to find a solution to a problem, and I knew there must be a safer way of pouring soup into the cup,” said Tracy. “I scoured DIY shops and supermarkets looking for the answer, and suddenly realised that an adapted tea strainer would be ideal for the job. I’m really pleased that it’s benefited all my colleagues – there haven’t been any more accidents since it was introduced.”
The judges thought that by considering the problem, coming up with an innovative solution, testing and implementing it, Tracy achieved a particularly impressive example of dedication to health and safety.
Estate Services’ Michael Howroyd received the Silver award and £150 prize for tackling a problem concerning members of the ‘handy gang’ who were suffering problems as a result of moving items much heavier than the manual handling regulation guidelines.
He gathered photographic evidence showing the problem and eventually, as a result of Michael’s perseverance, a £3,500 stairwalking machine was purchased.
Bronze award winner was post-doctoral researcher in Biological Sciences Julieanne Bostock, who works in a Category 2 microbiology laboratory. She saw that COSHH risk assessment forms were getting lost and that students were not fully understanding or carrying out the details, despite signing the forms. She created a space on the VLE for staff and students to store and share all health and safety information, and also included a quiz to test students’ knowledge. This solution solved a very real problem in a way that has enormous potential for the faculty-wide management and dissemination of health and safety information.
The judges also singled out four entries that are team-based and so more widely transferable across the University, honouring these with Beacon of Good Practice certificates. (These will feature in future issues of the Reporter.)
Certificates of Commendation were awarded to the ten remaining entrants to recognise the changes that they had brought about and their dedication and commitment to health and safety.
Ongoing commitment
The Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Arthur hosted the event, describing the awards as the Health and Safety Oscars. Explaining how the awards had come about, he said: “Shortly after my appointment I spoke to members of the Health and Safety Executive and other colleagues who expressed their concern about health and safety at this University. We decided there needed to be a major effort to address permanent cultural change in attitudes to health and safety.
“It’s not just about achieving this kind of change, but how you embed it and get people to take responsibility. The University – working with the campus unions which were effective partners in creating the improvements – has run all sorts of health and safety initiatives to keep people alert, with lots of new training and inductions for new staff. I’m pleased to say that the campaign is working; we’ve almost halved the number of serious accidents and figures are continuing to fall towards the Russell Group norm.
“These awards are another part of this brilliant campaign. Thank you for taking them so seriously. You are shining examples to other colleagues and I hope that other members of staff will take up the challenge and apply for next year’s awards.
“Health and safety is still at the top of Council and my agenda and we mustn’t be deflected. It’s as important as ever.”
Gary Tideswell, Director of Wellbeing, Safety and Health, commented: “I’d like to thank everyone who applied and offer my congratulations to all the winners. The sheer quality of these applications shows that the ‘me + you’ message has really been taken to heart and we’re very impressed by the dedication of staff to health and safety.”
“This is the first time we’ve run these awards,” said Lee Dewhurst, Head of Health and Safety. “We’re already planning the 2010 Awards – we know there will be unsung champions within the University community and would encourage them to apply later this year.
“Other universities are watching closely to see if they can use this model in their own campuses, so we’re really setting a standard that others will wish to follow.”
Winners
Gold
• Tracy Hemingway, Team Leader Ziff Café, RCS
• The Mailroom team
Silver
• Michael Howroyd, Estate Services
Bronze
• Julieanne Bostock, Faculty of Biological Sciences
Beacon of Good Practice
• Professor Yulong Ding’s Research Group, SPEME
• Dr Andrew Goddard and Dr Mark Blitz, School of Chemistry
• Sport and Physical Activity Service Team
• Jennifer Parr and Steve Pearson (on behalf of the Nuffield Centre for International Health
and Development) Commendation
• Heidi Collishaw and the Clinical Skills Centre team
• Andrew Ford, Faculty of Biological Sciences
• Faculty of Engineering Workshop
• Dr John Corr, School of Geography
• Ben Grigor, School of Healthcare
• Institute of Medical & Biological Engineering (iMBE)
• Fiona Reynolds, Faculty of Biological Sciences
• Antony Durham, ISS
• Lee Dalley, Workshop Theatre, School of English
• The Communications Team, Administration and Support
Caption
Gold winners – members of the Mailroom team (l-r): Ray Simpson, Gavin Thompson, Katie Dawson, Jonathan Mapplebeck, David Kime, Nigel Swift and Emma Harris
Tracy Hemingway, Team Leader Ziff Cafe, RCS receives the Gold award from the Vice-Chancellor
