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Six years on, the SHP IOSH Awards are firmly established among safety and health practitioners as the gongs to get their hands on, and last night (18 October) saw the 2012 group of highest-achieving organisations and individuals revealed and rewarded.

London’s Park Lane Hilton hotel reverberated with cheers and applause during a fantastic evening of celebration as the health and safety profession honoured its star performers in the sixth annual SHP IOSH Awards.

Now firmly established as one of the highlights of the health and safety calendar, the prestigious black-tie event honours the wonderful endeavour and achievement of health and safety practitioners up and down the country, both at an individual and organisational level.

In her keynote speech, HSE chair Judith Hackitt said: “The SHP IOSH Awards really are a great event – a chance to celebrate the important work that all of you do.

“There has been a lot of great events this year but the highlight for me was seeing the construction workers who built the Olympic Park forming a guard of honour at the opening ceremony. What better way to recognise their outstanding achievement of not suffering a single workplace fatality during the build.”

Hackitt then had the guests in stitches by clarifying that she “would not be charging a fee for this intervention!”
Following the sumptuous three-course meal, the real business of the evening got underway – the presentation of the trophies, which was expertly and hilariously managed by comedian Seann Walsh. First up were the sector categories, with the ‘Best achievement in Construction’ title going to Mace for its – ahem! – in-spire-ational work on western Europe’s tallest building, the Shard in London.

Other sector award-winners included Aggregate Industries in the Manufacturing category, West Mercia Police in the Health Care and Public Sector category, and Crossrail in the Transport and Logistics category.

The competition in the individual/activity sections was equally fierce. The prestigious ‘Achiever of the Year’ accolade went to Helen Kettle, of Merseytravel, while Lee Demolition’s Danny Kearney was named ‘New Entrant of the Year’. The Tristar Transport Company triumphed in the Campaign category and another transport-sector organisation, Tube Lines, was victorious in the Training category.

The final award of the night – the IOSH Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Santia – was presented to Professor Sir Anthony Newman Taylor, for his groundbreaking work on the occupational and environmental causes of lung disease.

Sir Anthony said he was delighted to receive the award and he paid tribute to the work of health and safety professionals, whose effort and dedication to protecting people in the workplace has contributed so much to society.

Guests also heard from Deborah Alsina, chief executive of the charity chosen by awards entrants to benefit from the night – Bowel Cancer UK. She encouraged everyone to dig deep and enter the draw for three great prizes kindly donated by ‘Health Care and Public Sector’ category sponsor, Maybo, the London Hilton and Grosvenor House. Her words about the UK’s second-biggest cancer killer obviously hit home, as the draw raised a whopping £4800!
The winners and guests then got down to some serious celebration by throwing some shapes on the dance floor overlooking the bright lights of Park Lane.

SHP and IOSH would like to thank all those who entered this year’s awards, and congratulate all shortlisted candidates, and especially the winners. Thanks also go to our esteemed panel of judges, as well as our generous sponsors for their incredible support.

The Winners Supplement – featuring details of all the winning and shortlisted entries – can be downloaded here.
 
A gallery of images from the night is also available below.