The photo, which is entitled ‘Beekeeper”, was awarded first prize during the closing event at the European Summit on Risk Assessment and SMEs conference, held in Bilbao on 17 November. The conference was organised by The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), and the competition was part of the Agency’s Healthy Workplaces campaign on risk assessments.Entries were welcomed from amateur and professional photographers from across Europe, and the winners were chosen by a judging panel made up of top photographers and safety experts.The winning photo was taken by Christopher Azzopardi, from Malta, and showed a beekeeper wearing protective clothing while working in an apiary. Delighted to have won the competition and the €3000 prize, Mr Azzopardi said: “I am very honoured to receive the prize. The photo was the most challenging picture I have ever taken. I was wearing protective clothing when I took the photo of a beekeeper working in an apiary in Malta, but the bees still managed to sting me several times. Through this photo I wanted to show the importance of wearing protective clothing while working in a dangerous environment.”Second prize was awarded to Eric Despujols, from France, for his picture of a welder, and third place went to Portuguese photographer Rodrigo Cabrita, for his photo that was titled ‘a hard and complicated life’.EU-OSHA director Jukka Takala said: “The interest shown and creative talent on display has been very encouraging. I am very pleased to award the best and most original photos answering our question ‘What’s your image of safety and health at work?’.”
