04 Nov Safety Awards Winners 2021
Designer Group Wins All Ireland Supreme Safety Awards 2021
The 30th National Irish Safety Organisation / Northern Ireland Safety Group (NISO/NISG) Annual Safety Awards took place on 4 November 2021 at a special ceremony in Killarney at which the Supreme Safety Award winner for 2021, sponsored by Irving Oil Whitegate Refinery, was announced as Designer Group.
The Supreme Safety Award is presented to the organisation that has shown consistently good or continuously improving health and safety performance over a number of years and an outstanding contribution to occupational safety, health and welfare during the previous year. The Awards are highly valued and regarded among health and safety professionals throughout the island of Ireland.
Under normal circumstances the All Ireland Safety Awards Gala Dinner is a large event with over 600 people in attendance but this year, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a scaled-down ceremony in keeping with the regulations proceeded at 60% of the hotel capacity.
Other awards presented on the night include the Safety Representative of the Year Award 2021 in association with The Cpl Institute. The winner of the Safety Representative of the Year Award for 2021 was John Higgins from Colas Ireland Ltd. and the Runner Up prize was awarded to JP Moloney from Irish Rail.
The Healthy Workplace Award, supported by Healthy Ireland, was won by Cork City Council. The Healthy Workplace Award recognises the commitment of workplaces who promote health and wellbeing as a core element of the Health and Safety agenda.
The Occupational Health Award, supported by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI), was won by Bon Secours Hospital Cork.
The Driving for Work Award was won by Actavo (Ireland) Ltd. The Driving for Work Award requires entrants to demonstrate evidence of the following in relation to driving for work: policy, planning, practice, measuring performance and reviewing performance.
The awards, which demonstrate the positive and proactive culture of safety management in organisations, were supported by BioThrive, Health and Safety Authority, Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, Healthy Ireland and Irving Oil Whitegate Refinery.
The 57th annual NISO Health and Safety conference, which preceded the safety awards ceremony, was sponsored by Ayrton Group and Intel Ireland Ltd. (Gold sponsors); Glenveagh Properties PLC, Jones Engineering Group and PM Group (Silver sponsors); DB Schenker (Bronze sponsors) and Portwest.
Harry Galvin, NISO President, presented awards to organisations from all around the island of Ireland. The Gold Award was won by Weltec Engineering Ltd., the Silver Award by Jones Engineering Group and the Bronze Award by Bon Secours Hospital Dublin.
Ashleigh Birkett, Chair, NISG, addressing the audience remotely by video, commended the entrants for submitting such high calibre entries again this year. Ashleigh congratulated all those who achieved awards, noting that the Safety Awards are a great way to enhance your organisation and to showcase your commitment to health and safety.
Damien English TD, Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, showed his support for the “tremendous work of NISO and NISG towards the promotion of workplace health and safety” in a video message. Minister English also congratulated the award winners and commended everyone for participating. He noted the work that NISO/NISG and its members have done in implementing Public Health policies and procedures to minimise the spread of COVID-19 and noted that these efforts are appreciated by Government and the public in general.
The Excellence in Safety Award, which is presented to organisations that consistently achieved a high standard safety award for mor than fifteen years, representing their continuous commitment to health and safety in their organisation, was won by Actavo (Ireland) Ltd.
A number of Exceptional High Achiever awards were presented to organisations that consistently achieved a high standard safety award for more than ten years, representing their continuous commitment to health and safety in their organisation. Recipients of this award include Acacia Facilities Management Ltd., Colas (Bitumen Emulsions, Contracting and Chemoran) West, Designer Group, Fingal County Council, GMC Utilities Group Ltd., John Paul Construction, John Sisk and Son (Holdings) Ltd., Jones Engineering Group, PM Group, TLI Group Ltd., W & H Alexander Ltd. and Weltec Engineering Ltd.
Expressions of interest for the 2022 safety awards can be emailed to awards@niso.ie. Register with NISO / NISG to receive details of the 2022 Awards when available.
The full list of awards winners for 2021 can be found at: safetyawards.ie