Date: 22 March 2004
Pilkington also scooped the overall Glass Charter Globe Award.BP Europe HSE manager Graham Randle said: "This recognition reflects an excellent effort from all the business lines in the UK and not just over the last twelve months.
"It was good for the teams to see that we are viewed as the best in the UK glass industry but we must not allow ourselves to become complacent as there is still a long way to go."
The conference, organised jointly by British Glass and the Glass and Glazing Federation, has been going for several years but this is the first time that the industry has recognised achievements in health and safety performance.
The conference praised a number of Pilkington improvements and intiatives, in particular the behavioural safety programme which was launched in 1998 and now extends to many sites in Building Products Europe.
Also singled out were Pilkington's improvements in lost time accident rate, incident reporting, management and employee training and awareness, improved safety management systems using the in-house Review and Evaluation system and improved general safety communications.
The conference also referred to Pilkington's "significant" contribution to improvements in the UK glass industry in support of the GLASS Charter. GLASS - Goal: Less Accidents Safer Site - is the glass sector's response to the Government's "Revitalising Health and Safety" campaign. So far 262 glass companies have signed up to the GLASS Charter initiative.
The Pilkington winners were:
* Outstanding Performance, sites with more than 250 employees. Float Manufacturing, for improved incident reporting, plus 350 days and 550 days without a lost time accident at the Greengate and Cowley Hill sites respectively.
* Outstanding Performance, sites with fewer than 50 employees. Pilkington Gateshead, for significant improvements in safety training and risk assessment and also for running 650 days without a lost time accident;
* Best Health Initiative. The occupational health team in Primary Products for their intranet-based "Healthy Heart" and "Lifestyle" programmes.
* Contribution to Health and Safety. Pilkington Plymouth, for improved safety management, training and communication, plus two years without a lost time accident.
* Safety Professional of the Year. Dave Ash, Processing And Merchanting Safety Manager, for three years of hard work helping the 22 sites in the UK make significant improvements;
*Employee Contribution Awards. Paul Williams, safety adviser Rolled and Polished Wired, for introducing an innovative manual handling education and awareness project; Nick Wilson, safety adviser, Float Manufacturing, for introducing fun into health and safety improvements and also a "30-second stop and think" initiative; Keith Bagshaw, safety officer, for a number of safety initiatives introduced at Pilkington Bradford; Peter Soulsby, safety representative at Watson Street, for his involvement in the risk assessment programme and other safety projects.
* Support to the Industry. Dave Donkin, Safety Manager, Primary Products UK, for his strong technical input and involvement behind the scenes.
*Safety Leadership. Graham Randle, HSE manager for Building Products Europe, for his input into the overall GLASS Charter strategy.
The awards were presented by Bill Callaghan, chairman of the Health and Safety Commission, under the GLASS Charter, who commented that he was "extremely proud to present so many awards to a company and its employees that shows such commitment to health and safety as Pilkington."
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