Northern Rail has won RoSPA's highest accolade for occupational safety and health in a record-breaking year which saw more than 1,650 businesses and organisations honoured in the annual awards scheme.
The York-based company, which operates local and inter-urban rail services in the north and north east of England, was announced as the winner of the safety charity's Sir George Earle Trophy at a ceremony in Birmingham last night (May 14).
The honour was awarded in recognition of outstanding occupational health and safety management performance.
Northern Rail, which also won the Transport, Storage and Distribution Sector and the WIS&H Trophy for workforce involvement in safety and health, was recognised by the awards panel for its highly successful health and safety culture.
Tom Mullarkey, RoSPA chief executive, said: "The judging panel found that safety was at the very heart of Northern Rail's values, and that strong leadership and the direct personal commitment of board members were matched by workforce involvement and partnership with trades unions and others.
"The award also recognises the company's excellent approach to ensuring workforce competence and learning from business partners, its work in occupational health and its engagement with local communities, particularly young people.
"We offer our congratulations to Northern Rail for setting such a fine example through its comprehensive approach to the prevention of accidents and ill health."
Other major award winners included: The Astor Trophy for the best-managed occupational health programme - E.ON UK Occupational Health Service, Coventry; The RoSPA Training Trophy - Mears Group Plc, Pontefract; International Dilmun Environmental Award, sponsored by Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company of Bahrain - AWE Plc, Reading; RoSPA Managing Occupational Road Risk Trophy - Tesco Dotcom, Welwyn Garden City; Best New Entry Award - PETRONAS Ammonia Sdn Bhd, Malaysia.
Sector award winners were: Chemical - Ruwais Fertilizer Industries (Fertil), Abu Dhabi; Commercial and Business Services - Shoosmiths, Northampton; Construction Commercial - Balfour Beatty Construction Scottish & Southern Ltd, Edinburgh; Housebuilding and Property Development - Lovell Partnerships Ltd - London Region, Barnet; Education and Training - TTE Training Limited, Ellesmere Port; Electricity - Uskmouth Power Company, Newport; Emergency Services - Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service; Engineering Services - ScottishPower Fleet Business, Glasgow; Engineering Construction - Studsvik UK Limited, Gateshead; Facilities Management - Babcock Infrastructure Services, Reading; Food, Drink and Tobacco Manufacturing - Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd, Glasgow, and Robert Wiseman Dairies - Glasgow Dairy (joint winners); Forestry - Fountains Plc, Banbury; Healthcare Services - Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Hotel and Catering - Hilton UK Hotels Ltd, Glasgow; Manufacturing - GE Healthcare - The Grove Centre and St Georges, Amersham; Mining and Quarrying - Imerys Minerals Limited, Par; National Defence - AWE Plc; Oil and Gas - Expro International Group Ltd, Dyce; Public Service and Local Government - East Riding of Yorkshire Council; Research and Development - National Physical Laboratory, Teddington; Water - Thames Water Utilities Limited, Reading; and International - Kertih Terminals Sdn Bhd, Malaysia.
In the RoSPA Awards, organisations compete for sector awards and specialist trophies, but there are also achievement awards at merit, bronze, silver, gold, gold medal, President's and Order of Distinction levels.
The awards, sponsored by NEBOSH (The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health), were presented over three days (May 12-14) of gala dinners and ceremonies at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, at the National Exhibition Centre, attended by 3,000 people.
A full list of winners will be available at www.rospa.com/awards/winners2009/next week.