Chester Zoo’s Health & Safety and First Aid Teams pick the up award
Chester Zoo has won a national award for its first aid work.
The zoo’s health & safety and first aid teams were named Leisure and Tourism Attraction of the Year at the 2015 UK Heart Safe Awards.
The accolade recognises outstanding tourism and leisure establishments that have invested in life saving equipment and staff training to provide a safe environment for both employees and customers.
Chester Zoo employs over 350 permanent members of staff, 400 seasonal staff and more than 70 volunteers and is the UK’s most popular attraction outside of London – welcoming more than 1.4m visitors a year.
Ian McIntosh, health & safety manager at the zoo, said:
“This is the first time we have entered the Heart Safe Awards and we were absolutely delighted when our name was read out as the winner of the Leisure and Tourism Attraction of the Year category. It’s an incredible honour to even be nominated, particularly given the strength of the competition this year.
“To be acknowledged for the first aid we provide at Chester Zoo for both staff and visitors is fantastic. The team are enormously proud of this national recognition and it was great to celebrate the award win together.
“Only recently, an incident occurred whereby our first aid team used their vital skills and equipment when a visitor suddenly fell ill at the zoo, which resulted in our team saving their life. We’ve recently introduced Heart-Start training to all staff and have seen a huge interest in the workshops, which provide the essential skills and confidence to take action in an emergency.”
The UK Heart Safe Awards are the UK’s first nationwide awards that celebrate organisations and employers who invest in creating Heart Safe environments, as well as the acts of individuals who have saved lives while at work or leisure. A Heart Safe environment is one where life-saving equipment – a defibrillator and training are provided for staff or customers so that people are fully prepared to perform resuscitation and life support immediately.
Hand on Heart CEO and UK Heart Safe award organiser, Victoria Burrows, added:
“We have had a hugely successful event this year with more award entries and attendees than ever before. The standard has been extremely high and so all nominees did extremely well to be shortlisted.
“We are thrilled to name The North Zoological Society (Chester Zoo) Leisure and Tourism Business of the Year. It is a fantastic achievement for the organisation and one that is very well-deserved.”
The winners of this year’s prestigious awards were announced at an evening at The Midland Hotel in Manchester on Friday 9 October.
