HSfB Wins Fife Regional Council Shield
John Johnston, creator of the website Health and Safety for Beginners (HSfB) - www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk, has had his commitment and passion for health and safety recognised after being awarded the Fife Regional Council Shield for his safety innovation. The award was presented by Dr Karen McDonnel from RoSPA at a ceremony held at the Dunfermline Building Society, during the annual general meeting of the Fife Chamber of Safety (now known as Safety Group - Fife) on Monday 14 May. The trophy was awarded to John for his web site initiative which provides many free tools for health and safety professionals and learning materials for students across the UK and internationally through downloads, discussion forums and a unique prize draw.
Speaking of the award, John said: “This is the second award in as many months and I am absolutely delighted to have won the Fife Shield. Safety Group - Fife is a big part of my life now and I am extremely proud to have been recognised by the group for this award."
Other awards at the AGM went to:
- UDV Shield - Exxon Mobil
- Raithian Quaich - Dryburgh Associates
- Nairn Trophy - Fife Council Intervention Team
- A special award was made to Sam Dimeck in recognition of his long service and recognition to the Chamber over the last 20 years.
John added: “after suffering a serious back injury in 2000 and knowing how difficult it was to fund my own NEBOSH general certificate training, I wanted to find a way in which I could help others develop a career in health and safety. Thanks to the website, and the generosity of the training providers and professionals who donated the prizes, this has been achieved.”
The training materials were given away as part of a free prize draw which featured on John’s website Health and Safety for Beginners (HSfB) - www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk The winners were announced at the Leicester-based headquarters of the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health; NEBOSH in February 2007.
View our press release on the prize draw here - Health and Safety for Beginners Prize Draw Results
View our press release on John's first award here - HSfB Wins Lord Cullen Trophy for Safety Innovation
Donations for the prize draw came from health and safety training providers after they found out about an initiative John launched in November 2006, which saw him personally fund a prize (using money gained from selling advertising space on his website www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk) for a site user to undertake a NVQ level 4.
Hugely impressed with John’s commitment and dedication to improving health and safety in the workplace, training providers soon stepped forward and offered a variety of different prizes to add to the draw including a range of NEBOSH e-learning training courses, residential training courses, guided tours of high performing organisations as well as reference materials so that more people could benefit.
The prizes and donating organisations were:
- NEBOSH National General Certificate – e-learning - RRC Training
- NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety and Risk Management - e-Learning - RRC Training
- NVQ Level 4 OR NVQ Level 5 - She Knows Health & Safety
- IOSH Working Safely for up to ten people in Manchester - Smart Training Solutions
- Radiation Protection Supervisor (RPS) Training Course (2-day residential) - Ionactive Consulting
- Guided Tour of a large multi-national organisation - Express Park
- The Handbook of Health and Safety Practice by Jeremy Stranks - HSfB
- The Principles of Health and Safety at Work by Allan St John Holt - Safetyphoto
In total, John managed to raise over £7250 worth of training and learning resources, and over 350 training hours (not including the NVQ) which had the potential for 17 lucky health and safety professionals to take their career to the next level.
