The SHP Awards judging panel has selected 11 finalists for SHP’s Rising Star UK 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 Star UK recognises young health & safety professionals, across all sectors, going above and beyond to improve occupational health, safety and/or workplace wellbeing in the UK.
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.
The finalists are:
Rebecca Christmas, Operational Safety Inspector, Countryside Properties PLC
Rebecca qualified as a result of being a Rising Star Construction finalist, read her bio here.
Adam Clarke, Occupational Hygiene Technician, Health and Safety Executive
Adam is responsible for performing occupational hygiene surveys, measuring workers exposures to health hazards and assessing the effectiveness of the control measures in place. This research feeds into larger projects and acts as part of the evidence base HSE use to update guidance and inform policy decisions. He has also been involved in various commercial projects, incident investigations and most recently, supporting the NHS in relation to COVID-19 response.
Adam was chosen to be the Technical Consultant from HSE who inputted into the NHS England and Improvements Reuse Cell pilot projects for the decontamination and reuse of disposable RPE. This work had never been attempted in the UK before and was part of three-pronged DHSC approach to securing a secure and sustainable supply of RPE for frontline healthcare workers.
Judges were impressed how Adam was unphased, despite this work taking him out of his comfort zone and challenging him, as it involved fairly high-level engagement across the NHS and work with other Government departments (e.g. PHE decontamination experts) and decontamination system manufacturers.
It was also highlighted by the panel how Adam was able influence others and stand his ground when he needed to ensure that safety was never compromised. Given the scale of world-wide demand for COVID PPE and associated shortages, Adam’s contribution to safety has to be considered “outstanding” as his work has a direct impact on the healthcare workers, and an indirect impact on their patients.
Lucilla Cummings, HSE Improvement Specialist, Travis Perkins plc
Judges were impressed how, throughout her Graduate programme, Lucilla showed a passion for change, working and leading multiple projects, one of which was paramount in ensuring the safety of colleagues in the external sales force in relation to the dangers they face whilst visiting customers sites and travelling on the road. The panel also highlighted how Lucilla engaged senior sales leaders in this project by highlighting and focussing business attention on the risks, continually challenging their thoughts and influencing the output of the project.
Judges noted how Lucilla has made “rapid progression” through the business, taking learnings from her previous roles, she built and introduced a new Safety Management System at Toolstation, one of Britain’s fastest growing suppliers to the trade with over 483 branches across the UK. Lucilla achieved a significant amount in her time in Toolstation, including a 10% improvement in Accident Frequency Rate YOY and a 54% improvement in Severity Rate.
Lucilla is working with the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) to take her learnings on load security and the principles she has introduced into the business into further testing, this could potentially shape industry guidance moving forward. Lucilla has delivered this programme at a time of great uncertainty with the Coronavirus pandemic and has navigated through the additional safety measures the group has put in place as a result.
The panel also noted that, outside of Lucilla’s day to day role, she is active in the firm’s diversity and inclusion agenda. She has led the BAME agenda in her area of the business, challenging the CEO to think differently on how to approach this. As a result, the business has set up a diversity and inclusion working group led by our group HR director to tackle a number of key areas. She also takes a lead role in the Mental Health and Wellbeing group by leading a number of activities and producing materials to support line managers in these conversations.
Matthew Durant, Managing Director, BAM Construction Training Ltd
Matthew qualified as a result of being a Rising Star Construction finalist, read his bio here.
George Gaddes, SHE Advisor NW Region, Robertson Group
George’s keenness to learn and will to share best practise was exemplified when one of Robertson’s clients, BAE Warton, wrote to Robertson’s stating that the new controls put in place by George to control COVID-19 was the best they had seen across all of their sites. Judges were impressed by the recognition he received for this scheme.
Since joining the business, George has completed his NCRQ Diploma which has allowed him to achieve Grad IOSH he is now working towards his Chartership.
The panel also picked up how George actively encourages and promotes health & safety as a profession, especially to younger members in the business. He continues to network with many health & safety professionals to discuss new ideas and concepts within the profession with a view to change the perceptions of the role health & safety professionals provide to companies.
He also helps to promote mental health within construction, with a focus on men’s mental health. He communicates regularly the importance of mental health and the need for a sustainable work life balance.
Jamie Hamilton, SHEQ Coordinator, K4 Consultancy
Jamie qualified as a result of being a Rising Star Construction finalist, read his bio here.
James Knott, Health & Safety Manager, SJ Eastern
James qualified as a result of being a Rising Star Construction finalist, read his bio here.
Jennifer Lea, Risk (health and safety) Manager, Bruntwood
Jennifer started her health and safety career in 2015 at a consultancy, before moving to Bruntwood at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and immediately started to work on its approach to returning colleagues and customers to a COVID-secure environment.
Judges were impressed how she immediately set about creating working relationships with her customers and getting a wider understanding of the business. She also took on a number of additional roles and sites, tried to balance the needs to provide advice and support on general health and safety and COVID-secure advice to more than 140 buildings. This was in addition to starting proactive prices of work looking at improving contractor management and accident investigations.
Despite being new to the business, Jennifer took a leading and active role in COVID-secure and return to the office working groups across the business. She was also involved in developing branded signage and industry specific guidance for our retail and commercial customers. She then successfully led the business through a British Safety Council audit of the Bruntwood COVID-19 arrangements.
Frazer Lowrie, ISO Administrator, Zepf Technologies UK Ltd
Frazer qualified as a result of being a Rising Star Manufacturing finalist, read his bio here.
Lewis Solway, Delivery Team Manager, Centrica
After joining British Gas as an Apprentice Technical Engineer in 2011, Lewis moved in to the safety team at Centrica in 2016, aged 22, before becoming an HSE Manager in 2018. Judges were impressed with Lewis’ progression and getting results with his ability to communicate with impact and actively engage stakeholders, which led to him being tasked with developing a training programme for leaders and safety representatives. Within a heavily unionised workforce, Lewis has brought the leaders and safety representatives closer together, discussing their challenges and providing a future path to a safe working environment for all.
Alongside a colleague, he developed the 2020 regional HSE plan to drive improvements within HSE. Over the 12 months in this role – pro-active reporting increased by 32% and there was a 38% reduction in all injuries.
In July 2020, took on a volunteer role on the board of a local football club. He is currently building a brand-new safety management system from scratch to build a safe place for the local community and in a way which will support the future growth of the football club. This work has included the building and communicating of COVID-19 risk assessments and policies which has enabled the safe return of up to 580 fans to watch live football.
Sam Watts, EHS Specialist, PepsiCo
Sam qualified as a result of being a Rising Star Manufacturing finalist, read her bio here.
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