The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has announced the ten winners of its Good Practice Awards 2012/13 at a conference in Dublin, Ireland.
Several hundred companies from 29 countries in the EU and beyond competed, and, for the first time ever, the Agency handed out joint awards to both managers and workers, in line with the ongoing Healthy Workplaces Campaign on ‘Working together for risk prevention’.
Although it missed out on one of the top prizes, the UK’s flagship offshore safety partnership Step Change in Safety was commended for its efforts in improving workforce engagement, with the goal of making the UK’s sector the world’s safest in which to work.
The ten winning companies included the likes of: voestalpine Rotec Group, from Austria — for establishing a health and safety standard across different countries; Atlantica Leisure Group Ltd, from Cyprus — for minimising accidents in the hotel industry; West Offaly Dairy Discussion Group — an Irish organisation that has reduced hazards on dairy farms; the Portuguese firm SONAE — which involved workers and managers in risk prevention at a retail group; and Protón Electrónica SLU, from Spain — for developing a risk-prevention model for small companies.
“The benefits of good occupational health and safety policies are still not always recognised at the individual company level in Europe, and especially among micro, small and medium-sized enterprises,” said Dr Christa Sedlatschek, director of EU-OSHA.
“This competition proved it is possible for even a company with only seven employees to have innovative prevention solutions, as was the case with one of the Spanish award-winners,”
László Andor, commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, added: “We would like to show that ideas and concepts developed by the winners of the Good Practice Awards can be adapted across different industries and Member States and in organisations of different types and sizes. Taking stock of innovative solutions and best practices in Europe should also help us in the effort to further develop health and safety policies for the future.”
