16th March 2009

Leyland Trucks wins major safety award.

  Leyland Trucks has won a top UK award for its health and safety performance from the UK’s foremost safety organisation RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents).

  The RoSPA President’s Award 2009 marks fourteen consecutive years in which the truck maker has achieved gold medal status for consistently meeting the highest standards in protecting the health and safety of its workers and visitors to the plant.

  The award will be presented to the Leyland Trucks Union Convenor, Dave Alty, at a ceremony at the Birmingham Hilton Metropole Hotel Centre in May. Mr Alty is a strong advocate of the importance of health and safety in the workplace and has played a key role in ensuring that it is an issue in which all employees at Leyland Trucks are actively engaged.

  Speaking of the award, Jim Sumner, managing director, said: “This is a tremendous accolade to the considerable effort that everybody at the company puts in to the vital issue of health and safety every working day. I’m pleased that it recognises both the maintenance of a consistent high standard over many years and the fact that awareness of the importance of health and safety is embedded in the company’s culture, supported by management commitment at the highest level.”

  “In making this award RoSPA has also acknowledged the efforts that we make to be innovative in our approach. For example, our ‘right to challenge’ initiative empowers every employee to challenge anybody in the plant, including myself, if they are not following correct health and safety procedures, such as not wearing the appropriate personal protective clothing.”

  David Rawlins, RoSPA awards manager, said: “Leyland Trucks has shown a strong and continuous commitment to protecting the health and well-being of its employees and others. Entering the RoSPA Awards reinforces the message that good health and safety is good for business, and clearly demonstrates an organisation’s dedication to improving performance in this crucial area”

  “The RoSPA Awards are not just about reducing the number of accidents and cases of ill-health at work; they help to ensure that organisations have good health and safety management systems in place. In the current economic climate, awards are more important than ever because they demonstrate that employers care about their employees and will not let slip their standards of health and safety practice even if times are tough.”

  The RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards 2009 are sponsored by NEBOSH (The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health), the leading health and safety professional examining body.