The SHP Awards judging panel has selected four finalists for SHP’s Rising Star in Construction Award and two finalists for SHP’s Rising Star in Manufacturing Award.
The SHP Rising Star Awards celebrate young, high-performing health and safety professionals. Some of the brightest, most passionate young stars of the profession.
Rising Stars is brought to you as part of the wider SHP Awards, in collaboration with the HSE and IATP.
The winners will be announced in mid-December.
Recognising individuals, aged under 30 and from the UK, in construction sector going above and beyond to improve occupational health, safety and/or workplace wellbeing.
The finalists are:
Rebecca Christmas, Operational Safety Inspector, Countryside Properties PLC
Judges highlighted how, since joining the company, Rebecca has developed positive relationships with all several contractors and site management teams within her division to ensure compliance is met and the challenges of doing this in a male dominated environment. It was also highlighted how her “engagement and collaboration with these teams was having a positive impact on site”.
Rebecca has produced many safety alerts and posters for use by the group and her division. She has taken her own leave to continue to study for her diploma and has overcome her lack of confidence to deliver training confidentiality and professionally. Her knowledge of RC frame has expanded and is the subject matter expert in company policy. Her “thinking outside the box” approach is both positive and collaborative as well as being empathetic to the needs of the business and to that of its contractors. Her nomination pointed to how she will not be pressurised to change her opinion when she finds issues that could lead to enforcement action or situations that deviate from group policy and procedure, which also impressed the panel.
She has also produced information for campaigns covering dust and lev, traffic management and emergency procedures, which were all adopted by the Countryside Group as best practice and were used for all sites.
Matthew Durant, Managing Director, BAM Construction Training Ltd
Matthew started BAM Construction Training in 2013, with the intention to make engaging and interactive courses which put learners first. His dedication to partnering with other construction companies to provide young people with work and educational opportunities within the industry was noted. His “clear emphasis on trying to help the wider industry” also stood out for judges.
The panel picked up on how Matthew was “going above and beyond with training”, and how he “doesn’t want to leave anyone behind”, liaising with companies to ensure that not only are people in work, but they are trained to a high standard.
Matthew also takes the time to attend school and college talks whenever possible, to educate them on the impacts and importance of not only construction, but also health and safety and what this means for the community. Judges said he was “playing an important role at trying to encourage young people to come into health & Safety in construction. Educating them on what life is like within the industry.”
Jamie Hamilton, SHEQ Coordinator, K4 Consultancy
Jamie’s innovative thinking has helped to design, develop and publish apps for a range of companies across Northern Ireland in the construction industry, with the largest company having an annual turnover of more than £300 Million. As a result, my informative health and wellbeing content has reached an audience of 1,000’s across Northern Ireland.
Judges highlighted how Jamie was “using tech through the adversity of COVID-19 to get out to a wide audience”, with his apps, which include the functionality to access the latest government guidance, complete health declarations, whilst also providing easy access to health and wellbeing guidance.
What also stood out for the panel, was how Jamie has, with cooperation from clients, made the apps available to the local community, giving people access to a wealth of content on health and wellbeing, including ways to keep active at home, nearby free activities such as nature walks and easy access to helplines for a range of things including mental health, debt and addiction.
James Knott, Health & Safety Manager, SJ Eastern
James has been working behind the scenes to create a health and safety management system that is fit for the future and robust. Firstly, with the introduction of a range of health and safety electronic systems, to support construction sites operationally. At the same time, revaluating how site inspections are to be conducted with a focus on operations onsite and auditing on the health and safety management system.
Judges highlighted how James was “challenge the norms around working at height” on one of the company’s clients projects, where a blanket approach of the use of a delta deck platform was considered as the only option form of equipment from the main contractor onsite. He has been able to safely justify the safe use of hops with guard rail as the ideal solution for our scope of works onsite for selected tasks.
Judges also liked James’ “bullish approach”, with his nomination saying he intends to influence change within the construction industry moving forward.
All finalists also qualified for SHP’s Rising Star UK Award.
Recognising individuals, aged under 30 and from the UK, in manufactuing sector going above and beyond to improve occupational health, safety and/or workplace wellbeing.
The finalists are:
Frazer Lowrie, ISO Administrator, Zepf Technologies UK Ltd
Frazer impressed judges with his is dedication to continual improvement and supporting health, safety and wellbeing at his company. He has supported the senior management team at Zepf providing guidance and support, and directly responsible for the successful implementation of ISO 45001, creating and implementing a revised health, safety and wellbeing policy, and documented procedures including Non-managerial worker reviews of procedures and risk assessments to increase worker involvement in Health and Safety.
In addition, he has supported the company’s Safety Improvement Report Card initiative and promoted it within the workforce, encouraging colleagues to suggest improvements to the workplace – maintaining the rolling completion rate above the 80% target to 97% overall consistently.
Sam Watts, EHS Specialist, PepsiCo
Sam is responsible for implementing digital solutions to record, investigate and analyse incidents in order to ‘work smarter’, improve stakeholder visibility and effectively manage actions. A key focus within this was to ensure that she brought the workforce along with her, specifically the management population who would be the end users. This was done through interactive training sessions that heavily focused on the moral reasons we investigate and their role in preventing incidents, in addition to root cause analysis coaching and how to use the system itself.
Sam’s response to COVID-19 also stood out, as she helped implement additional controls to ensure the safety of not only staff, but also their families. This included sourcing and implementing additional rest facilities, setting and maintaining social distancing standards and completing the site COVID Risk Assessment. This has been imperative as she works within an exceptionally busy food manufacturing facility which has continued to run safely throughout, despite being inside increased localist restrictions in Leicester.
What stood out for judges is how Sam is not only new to her role, but has only been in manufacturing for six months, but is already bringing way of thinking to an established organisation through challenging the status quo. This has included challenging metrics and streamlining processes to ensure that the team focus on the right priorities in challenging times. Judges also highlighted her leadership skills, setting direction and coaching others to progress themselves and were impressed at the impact she has had in such a large organisation, in such a short space of time – especially when considering that she joined amid pandemic.
All finalists also qualified for SHP’s Rising Star UK Award.
