New small business award from IOSH and the HSE

6 September 2010

The ‘Innovation in safety – small business award’ is a new competition from IOSH and the HSE to find new ideas to improve health and safety in small businesses. The entrant with the best new idea will win £1,000 and a free two-day pass to the IOSH 11 Conference and Exhibition, the largest health and safety conference in the UK.

This competition is an excellent platform to showcase what you’ve done and get industry wide recognition. If you win, you’ll be promoted on the IOSH and HSE websites, in SHP magazine and Connect, IOSH’s e-bulletin, and the IOSH channel on YouTube. The winner will be announced on 1 March 2011 and formally presented with their award on 15 March 2011 at the IOSH 11 Conference and Exhibition in ExCeL, London.

There are around 4.8 million small businesses in the UK, but small doesn’t necessarily mean safe. Ninety-four per cent of agricultural jobs are in businesses with fewer than 50 workers, yet this sector has one of the highest rates of deaths and serious injury in the country. And the death rate for the self employed is more than double that of those employed by an organisation. To cut accidents and ill health, this is clearly an important sector to reach. We’ve launched this competition to find new ideas to help small businesses keep their employees safe and healthy at work – without stopping the day job.

  
The award has been set up by the HSE’s Judith Donovan CBE. Judith has generously invested her cash prize for winning the IOSH/Sypol Lifetime Achievement Award to fund this competition. She won the award for her efforts to make small and medium-sized enterprises more aware of the need for health and safety and the importance of taking care of their employees.

Judith said:

“This competition is about something very important – it’s about improving health and safety in small firms. I’ve run my own small business for 20 years so I know what gets in the way, whether it’s bureaucracy, red tape or form filling. We’re looking for an idea that’s tried and tested – one that’s delivered genuine improvements in health and safety. This could be anything from new innovations to make health and safety simpler to new systems or gadgets to help cut costs.”

Hear Judith talk more about the award and what she expects from members.

The competition is open to IOSH Chartered members in the UK. You may be a consultant or trainer working with small businesses, or an in-house professional dealing with small firms as part of your supply chain. Your idea has to be original, and already have been put into practice in a small business with proven results. 

How to enter

To enter the competition, you need to read the rules and answer the questions on the entry form (Word 65kb) (please write no more than 1,000 words in total) and send it to us by 01 December 2010.

Good luck!