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Winner and finalists:

Clugston Construction is this years winner, showing that it pays not just to learn from your mistakes, but from your near misses too...

Clugston Construction

Hitting a zero-accidents target is not just about crossing fingers and hoping workers that dont take risks, and nobody realises that better than Clugston Construction. Having already cut accidents from an average of 13.7 per year in 1993 to 4.4 in 2004, the firm decided to launch its Take Time initiative to ensure that best practice and responsible management go hand in hand. Project teams are told they have the right to stop work if they feel unsafe, are ordered to report any unsafe acts or conditions, and required to report a minimum of 500 near-miss reports every year. So confident was Clugston of its success, they made Take Time contractually-binding. The initiative is set up to run for 10 years, but the results are already showing. Since Take Time launched in 2003, more than 8,500 near-miss situations have been recorded, and accident rates have dropped to an average of 2.2. Its not zero yet, but Clugston is definitely getting there.

Braidwater

Braidwaters main obstacle to putting together a far-reaching health and safety policy was the Irish Sea. With offices in Belfast and Liverpool, the contractor had to work out a way to make sure its management system coped with the separate offices. This year, a full-time health and safety manager was appointed and thanks to internal network and video conferencing, he has been able to put together a remedial action plan to improve accident rates. So far it seems to have worked - Braidwaters Springfield Road project in Belfast has received a Considerate Constructors award and it has been accredited with the Irish Safe-T-Cert scheme for three consecutive years.

Dean & Dyball

Precious few contractors realise that instilling a positive health and safety culture is more about education from day one than constantly telling people what they are doing wrong. With this in mind, Dean & Dyball set up its Right from the Start campaign, pinpointing the issues that lead to risky behaviour and addressing them one by one with toolbox talks, workshops and briefings. Workers were encouraged to attend roleplay sessions with professional actors to put some fun into what can be a dry subject.

Kier Islington

Nothing fosters a positive health and safety culture like a little healthy competition At Kier Islington each department, from maintenance to cleaning, competes for the Departmental Safety Shield, and trade union reps nominate diligent individuals for Trade Union Health and Safety cash prizes. The companys Safety Week incorporated the serious presentations from the HSE and a fire safety demo and the fun a safety quiz and a safety poster competition for local schools.

Pearce

The only way the Pearce Group could make sure health and safety was put first on every project they did was to literally put it first. Every project the group undertakes cannot start until a dedicated Health and Safety Excellence team approves every document, agreement and contract associated with it. High-risk activities are planned so that training and toolbox talks can be scheduled shortly before they take place. The system is backed up by the stats, with accident frequency rates (AFR) dropping across the board.

Waring Construction

One of the best ways to get results is by setting hard targets. In 2004, Waring set itself a lot an AFR of 0.0044 per 100,000 by 2010, a reduction in hand injuries by 20% and in eye injuries by 10%. Three years later, hand injuries are down 55%, eye injuries down 41% and AFR has crept down to 0.08 from 0.2 in 2004. Warings success is down to self-analysis; whenever an accident happens, the line manager in charge investigates to see what can be learned so it only happens once.