Waste industry honour added to prestigious ROSPA awards

A new award for the waste and recycling industries has been introduced into the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards for 2010.

The organisation which demonstrates the best health and safety management within the industry, with a consistently excellent and continuously improving performance, will win the Waste Management & Recycling Sector Award.

Sector award entrants are also eligible for achievement awards (which are presented at merit, bronze, silver and gold levels) and they will all receive feedback from RoSPA on the quality of their entry.

Entry for the 2010 RoSPA Awards has just opened. For the first time in the scheme’s 54-year history, organisations can pre-register (before December 24) for discounted entry. They then have until February 12 to send full submissions.

Also for the first time, Allianz Insurance plc is sponsoring the top award for managing occupational road risk (MORR) – the RoSPA/Allianz MORR Trophy.

The RoSPA Awards are open to organisations of all sizes and types. In addition to looking at accident records, they consider health and safety management systems and recognise practices such as strong leadership and workforce involvement. They are sponsored by NEBOSH – the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health – and presentations will take place next year in Birmingham in May (alongside Safety and Health Expo) and Glasgow in September.

Competitive awards go to the best entries in a range of sectors and there are also awards for special categories including workforce involvement, plus a trophy for the best organisation operating or based in Scotland. RoSPA’s top accolade is the Sir George Earle Trophy.

Prospective entrants from all sectors can find out more about the new awards, as well as how to make the most of the scheme in general, at the next RoSPA Awards Networking Event on December 2 in Coventry.

Roger Bibbings, RoSPA’s occupational safety adviser, said: "We are pleased to introduce a new award for the waste management and recycling industries. These sectors face considerable challenges in terms of managing health and safety, and with accident rates significantly higher than the national average, attention quite rightly is being focused on what still needs to be done.

"We know, however, that many waste and recycling firms are already well ahead in securing improvements in health and safety performance and are leading the way in achieving a lasting reduction in accidents and ill health, both internally and across the industry as a whole. I encourage all such firms to enter the 2010 RoSPA Awards, not only to gain well-deserved recognition of what they are doing but to set a benchmark for others to aim at and learn from."

For more information, or to request an entry form, visit www.rospa.com/awards, call 0121 248 2090 or email awards@rospa.com