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We’re with you every step of the way! – RoSPA Workplace Safety Blog

Whether you’re a returning entrant, or brand new to the RoSPA Health & Safety Awards, going through the entry process can seem a little daunting… but don’t panic! We have a highly dedicated team at RoSPA to help.

We caught up with two members of the RoSPA team, Dr Karen McDonnell and Matt Cryer, to find out how they can help entrants on their awards journey.


Dr. Karen McDonnell, CFIOSH, Chartered FCIPD

OHS Policy Adviser, Head of RoSPA Scotland, Past President of IOSH
As a highly motivated advocate for safety and health, Karen is skilled in partnership working, with a track record of working with and through key stakeholders across the UK’s health and safety network. Karen has a broad range of strategic and operational experience gained over 25 years whilst working for RoSPA. Karen can help award entrants in a number of ways…



Matt Cryer, TechIOSH

Awards Standards Manager
Matt is the Award Standards Manager for RoSPA’s Health and Safety Awards scheme, responsible for developing and overseeing the assessment process, judging panels and question sets. During Matt’s time at RoSPA he has gained the NEBOSH General Certificate and TechIOSH status. With his wealth of awards experience, Matt can assist award entrants from the start, right through to the end of your awards journey…


As well as support from our team, we also offer a Free Mentoring Scheme, where we put you in touch with an experienced, high achieving award winner, to help you maximize your entry.

January is all about setting goals and planning for the year ahead. With the next RoSPA Awards deadline a mere four months away (April 30 to be precise), we’re asking organizations across the globe; could you become a #rospawinner?

Find out how to get involved by visiting www.rospa.com/awards before April 30 to be part of the 2020 Awards.

To a Mouse – RoSPA Workplace Safety Blog

This year the birth of Robert Burns and the Lunar New Year fell on the same date, 25th january. A time for Scots and Asian heritage to be celebrated, a time for reflection and forward planning.

My favorite Robert Burns poem is ‘To a Mouse’, written in 1785 it tells the story of Burns disturbing a mouse nest whilst plowing a field, a panic stricken mouse, its ruined nest and with winter just around the corner, its world in disarray .

There is a line in the poem, ‘The best laid plans o’mice an’ men gang aft agley’ that resonates within OSH world. That despite our reflection on ‘what works’ and our forward planning, things don’t always go our way… and we need support to bring the best out in ourselves and our organizations.

Every year since 1956, RoSPA has provided the opportunity for people and organizations to ‘tell their story’ and share their successes through the internationally recognized RoSPA Health & Safety Awards. This network extends to 40 countries around the world and working with the people involved in bringing submissions together is the best part of my role! At present, we now have 25 RoSPA Awards Ambassadors, with three active overseas; Stephen Storey in Chennai, Mathew Jackson in the United Arab Emirates, and Ben Legg based in Madrid. All of our Ambassadors act as mentors, and Stephen is delivering an event in Chennai later in March.

However, with almost 2000 entrants and even with the extra day available in 2020, bringing the best out in this global network needed extra pairs of hands. People with an understanding of the RoSPA Awards process and the ability to construct an effective submission reflecting local context and culture. Bringing to life the work of OSH professionals and practitioners and demonstrating the value they add not only to their organizations but to society as a whole.

The role of the RoSPA Awards Ambassador was created to help ‘us’ become more accessible, provide mentoring opportunities and encourage organizations to tell their OSH stories. Our Ambassadors are unique individuals who give their time to help others progress, they are catalysts for change in their own organizations, who recognize the importance of connecting around current and emerging OSH issues. They know what works and what to do when things ‘gang agley’, led by Graham Parker MSc CFIOSH FIIRSM CIWFM, RoSPA Trustee and Past President IOSH.

If you are already part of the RoSPA Awards and would like to benefit from mentoring, please get in touch with [email protected].

If you are reading this and want to be part of this elite Awards community, drop the awards team at [email protected] or myself [email protected] a message and we will be happy to help.

And remember each 10,000 mile journey begins with one step…

Spotlight on RoSPA’s First International Awards Ambassador – RoSPA Workplace Safety Blog

In 2018, RoSPA developed the RoSPA Awards Ambassador scheme, aiming to create a network of individuals who champion RoSPA’s objective to drive up health and safety standards via the RoSPA’s International Health and Safety Awards. With more than 27-years of experience in OS&H management, and over half of those spent working overseas, Stephen Storey, who is based in India, was well placed to be RoSPA’s first international awards ambassador. We catch up with him to see what this means for him.

Stephen Story has spent fifteen years working overseas in OS&H management in the Middle East and Asia. He is currently corporate EHS head for Larsen & Toubro (L&T Heavy Civil) in India.

Stephen is one of those on the frontline. His personal goal is to drive up standards across the board in a country where safety culture is not as mature as say Europe or the US. In his work with L&T, he is in charge of the safety and wellbeing of thousands of employees and contractors working in high-risk environments in heavy infrastructure sectors such as tunnels, rail, roads, bridges, nuclear, hydropower, defense, ports and harbors .

The Indian health and safety scene presents its own particular challenges. More than 22 official languages ​​are spoken in the country, and it also has a transient workforce which poses a problem for those trying to instil good OS&H practice and create a safer working environment. However, Larsen & Toubro have worked hard to overcome these obstacles and use the RoSPA Health & Safety Awards to demonstrate a massive commitment to health and safety with consistent entries into these international awards for almost 20 years, with over 100 entries across Larsen & Toubro in 2019.

“The workforce is highly mobile and seasonal and this produces a large, quick turnover of labour, which comes mainly from the agricultural sector.

“Workers generally have very little experience or understanding of complex construction and engineering work methods, and the correct safety behaviors that require implementation to enable accident prevention.

“Making that change and developing those skill sets in a small window of time – before the workforce leaves the projects to take up jobs outside the construction industry in their native region – is a big challenge.”

So how is Stephen tackling these issues?

He is attempting to implement and grow a safety culture, not only through his day-to-day work on the ground but through making a firm commitment to employees and by seeking ways to further expand his influence and promote best safety practices.

stephen regularly works with the National Safety Council of India and the International Labor Organization, among others, and every January Larsen & Toubro hold a safety month which reaches thousands of stakeholders including employees, contractors, suppliers, JV partners, and clients. With themes such as ’embrace digital for a safer workplace’, which included installing safety apps, including safety inspection and near-miss apps on smartphones used in the workplace, and employees taking part in virtual reality construction safety training, it is clear that Stephen has his finger on the pulse of all the latest developments and technologies in safety.

“We also focused on third-party training from international bodies in crane management, operations and rigging, and scaffolding inspection and erection, and ran occupational health campaigns on heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and yoga fitness.”

In 2018, Stephen was chosen to be RoSPA’s very first international ambassador award.

“It is an honor to be approached to support such a prestigious global brand in safety,” Stephen says. “In accepting the role as ambassador it gives me an opportunity to give something back to the occupational safety and health industry and support RoSPA in its overall vision, mission and beliefs.”

Stephen intends to encourage more organizations in India, through his networks, to enter the RoSPA Health & Safety Awards and assimilate the entry process into their safety strategies, as Larsen & Toubro has done.

“Having the opportunities as I do to be invited to talk on various boards, at conferences in India and Asia more widely, and to government and industry forums, I can speak to them of the values ​​an organization can gain from simply entering the awards process and understanding how they can improve and eventually be recognized as RoSPA winners.”

If you are interested in becoming part of the RoSPA Awards, visit www.rospa.com/awards and find out more about our internationally recognized award scheme.

It is also necessary which you deliver an helpful cover lette, though your resume is likely one of the primary paperwork in the job searchr

Where Can it be Available Get Help to Write a Cover Letter for Resume

When applying for a fresh job or internship, it’s important to include a how to write laboratory assistant cover letter. This really is an opportunity to stand out from the crowd and show the potential employer that you’re a reliable fit for the task, a communications expert and author of Great located on the Job.

Operate the cover letter to highlight qualifications, skills and accomplishments that best align with the specific job description for which you’re applying. It’s also an opportunity to demonstrate that you recognize the provider culture, and how your experience and expertise match up.

Research the employer to learn their “voice. ” This is a key part of your job application, and if you spend a little time reading over the company’s website or social media profiles, it will help you write your letter in a way that matches the brand identity.

Be specific relating to your achievements and experience in previous jobs, using facts and figures numbers, dollar figures, percentages to convey how you’ve excelled at whatever you do. Hiring managers are frequently astounded by numbers that report you’ve produced a real difference on the job.

Don’t make demands – While it’s OK to examine your salary requirements, it’s better to direct attention to what you can do for the business and how they can make use of your experience and skills. It’s also more presumptuous to cite salary demands before you’ve even landed an interview, according to John Lees, a UK-based career author and strategist of Knockout CV.

Best Services for Writing a Resume Cover Letter

Your resume is one of the most important documents in your job search, but it’s also crucial that you send an effective cover letter. It’s an opportunity to explain why you are a proper match for the job and company, and it provides you with an opportunity to highlight your most impressive achievements.

Cover letters are often sent to hiring managers, but they can also be sent to former employers and mentors. The primary objective is to inform the recipient that you will be a job seeker and ask for their help while searching.

It can be accomplished with just a few tips and tricks, even though

Creating a strong cover letter is not easy. Some examples are writing into a positive, confident voice, using industry jargon specific to the business or position, and being sure your name is correct and the resume and cover letter are well-crafted.

The best cover letters highlight your core skills, tying them to the exact job you can be applying for and demonstrating that you may have the knowledge to perform each responsibility. At the same time, tell meaningful anecdotes that tie your skills to concrete problem-solving activities or tangible business results you’ve achieved in your particular career.

When writing a resume cover letter, you might want to include each and every post-secondary education and the dates upon which you completed each course. This allows hiring managers to obtain feel for your professional history and observe how you’ve grown after some time.

How to Write a Professional Resume Cover Letter

Your cover letter are you finding your chance to highlight your qualifications and convince the hiring manager that you’re a perfect fit for the job. It’s also your opportunity to set yourself apart from the other candidates.

Get started with by mentioning why you’re curious about the job and demonstrating the way your experience will manage to benefit the business. You could mention any referrals you’ve received from current employees or colleagues.

Confirm your letter is the short, one-page document using the same font and formatting since the resume. This makes it easy for the potential employer to scan through and quickly catch any relevant highlights or accomplishments at a glance.

First, you’ll need to identify the most significant requirements for the position within the job description. List each one of these inside the own bullet point and explain how you meet them, so your hiring manager can clearly see why you’re the proper candidate.

Second, you’ll want to center on highlighting probably the most relevant experience, skills and achievements that might demonstrate how you’re a fantastic fit for this position. This is actually your opportunity to sell yourself as an exceptional employee, so make it a point it’s effective!

The closing paragraph with the cover letter should be preoccupied with installing an interview, expressing your excitement in regards to the position and thanking the potential employer for their time. This example from my group of cover letter samples does simply that, while maintaining a professional tone throughout.

How to Write Your Cover Letter with Cover Letter Editing Help

Editing cover letters is mostly a critical a part of the job application process, and cover letter for resume offers professional cover letter editing services to help ensure your resume stands out one of the competition. Our editors are seasoned experts who learn the expectations of hiring managers, and now we have the skill sets to deliver quality cover letter editing that will impress them.

The initial step in editing your cover letter is to run it in a spell check. This is especially important if you are writing for an industry that is known for having a high volume of misspellings or grammatical errors.

After you have verified that grammar and spelling are correct, its time to print your cover letter. Using an online cover letter editor or service that sends your text via email to you for proofreading a great way to get feedback immediately on any mistakes inside your letter.

Your cover letter could be one page three to four paragraphs at the most and ought to include tons of white space. Use a simple font and add margins to set up a clean, easy-to-read document.

So spend some time reading over the company website or their social media before you start writing,

The best cover letters mimic the language and tone of the organization youre applying to. This provide you with an improved notion of the type of voice you choose to portray to your letter, which is able to help you feature prominently.

Just how a CV Proofreading Service Might Help

Proofreading is important for your resume because if it has misspellings, confusing sentences or irrelevant information, recruiters may interpret it as a lack of attention to detail or no interest in the position.

Using an experienced, professional editor to proofread your CV can help eliminate these errors and ensure that you are giving the best possible impression.

Grammar and Writing:

The very first thing a hiring manager will notice of your resume is when well it actually is written, so just be sure to use proper language and sentence structure throughout. It is usually necessary that the document is properly formatted, accompanying a clear font type and size, appropriate spacing, capitalization and stylization, e.g. , ALL CAPS vs Title Case vs Sentence case, and correct punctuation.

Word Choice:

The text you ought to choose to utilization in your resume has to be consistent considering the tone and style of the written work, in addition to the way that you talk about yourself in interviews. If it is not necessary to highlight it.

Form:

You should utilize aprofessional and clean, and simple template for your resume and CV. For instance the employment of white paper, a clean layout and a consistent font type and size. Further, it involves using proper spacing and capitalization for headings, and being sure that any dates are properly placed. Aside from that, it is crucial to be careful precisely how you describe your experience and education. For example, if you have multiple years of experience in the same field, it is better to have one long description for your career history and another one for your educational background.

Wills Bros Civil Engineering Ltd. – RoSPA Workplace Safety Blog

2019 was a spectacular year for Wills Bros Civil Engineering Ltd. at the
RoSPA Health & Safety Awards. As well as being Highly Commended in the Health & Safety Team of the Year, they also achieved a RoSPA Gold Achievement Award.

Wills Bros Civil Engineering Ltd. first entered the RoSPA Awards back in 2017, winning a Silver RoSPA Award. Since then, they’ve continued to enter, pushing themselves to win a Gold Award in 2018 and then again in 2019. We spoke to Kieran Doona, Health and Safety Manager at Wills Bros Civil Engineering Ltd. to find out more about their awards journey over the last three years…


What benefits does winning a RoSPA Award have for your organization?

Being recognized as a winner at the RoSPA Awards is hugely beneficial for our company’s reputation and profile, both with clients, the wider public and our own employees. Benchmarking ourselves against the Awards annually is a great way of reflecting on our performance over the previous year and focusing on all the things we’ve done well. Recognition as a Gold Award winner also sends out a strong signal that we are a high performing organization that is massively passionate about safety and really cares for the wellbeing of our workers. Achieving Gold didn’t happen overnight. We put a lot of work into our submissions over a number of years and the feedback from RoSPA was really helpful on how we could tweak and improve year-on-year.


Which innovative approaches, risk assessment practices and/or control measures to manage health and safety are you particularly proud of?

Over the past number of years, we’ve been particularly proud of our focus on the physical and mental health of our employees, which is so important in the modern high-pressure work environment. the the best thing about it is that we’ve had a lot of fun doing it. You can be really creative in coming up with ways to promote better health for staff. For example, we’ve held 5-side football matches, walk at work schemes, healthy lunch days, staff bowling nights, awareness workshops and staff health screening days. These have been great for morale and provide an ideal opportunity for staff to get to know one another better.


Are you able to share any outcomes from your organization’s approach to health and safety management?

Our approach to health and safety management is highly focused towards continuous improvement, changing attitudes and improving our culture. Whilst focus on lagging indicators (accidents, incidents) are important, we try to keep a balanced approach by putting equal emphasis on leading indicators (training, inspections, good practices, awards etc). We have found that competing in the RoSPA Awards has been really good for nurturing this balanced approach over the years. The questions are always updated to reflect the ever-changing nature of health and safety, so it keeps us aligned with best practice.


How have the RoSPA Awards inspired you/your organization to continuously improve health and safety management?

When we first entered a couple of years back, we were really happy to win a Silver Award. After a couple of years, we got more ambitious and really wanted to win Gold, which we achieved with some invaluable feedback and support from RoSPA. In 2019, we pushed ourselves again and decided to enter two award categories. We were delighted to win a Gold Achievement Award and a highly recommended award in the Health & Safety Team of the Year category. We’ve already registered for the 2020 Awards and have decided to push ourselves to win a Construction Sector Award next year. That’s the great thing about the RoSPA Awards, there’s something for everyone and the positive reinforcement of success really drives you to continuously improve year-on-year.


What do you enjoy most about the RoSPA Awards?

The anticipation of waiting for the Award result to come through is really exhilarating, particularly when you’ve put a lot of effort into the submission. It’s also a lot of fun sharing the the result for staff and Directors as the submission is really a team effort. I get a great buzz out of that every year. The Awards ceremony itself is also a fantastic occasion with companies from all over the world present to collect their trophies and certificates. It’s clear when a representative goes up to collect their award that the acknowledgment means a lot to them. I know that means a lot to us.


Could your organization go for Gold in 2020? Registrations are currently open for the 2020 RoSPA Health & Safety Awards. Simply visit the website to find out more. Want to hear more about the RoSPA Awards? Catch up on all our posts in the ‘Meet the Winner’ series and find out how entering the awards has benefitted other organisations.

We’re off to Chennai – RoSPA Workplace Safety Blog

Only a few months into the year, 2020 is already proving to be more exciting than ever. This March, RoSPA will be launching our first ever Awards Excellence Forum in India. taking place on Tuesday, March 24at Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Campus in Chennai, India. This free event is a phenomenal example of just how far the RoSPA Health & Safety Awards scheme has reached across the globe.

Hosting this international event is International Awards Ambassador Stephen Storey. With over 27 years of experience in the health and safety industry, combined with his rich RoSPA Award winning history, Stephen will be presenting an overview of the awards scheme.

Awards Excellence Forums provide a platform for existing and potential Award winners to share their success, to enter into mentoring arrangements, to improve their standing in the RoSPA Awards, to ask questions and learn more and to gain valuable CPD hours.

What is the theme for the event?

Sharing safety excellence, something which RoSPA’s own Dr. Karen McDonnell, is a huge advocate of. As Karen often says, “when we share success, we become stronger and more resilient” and “being connected with others is so fundamentally important… different perspectives help shape the next steps.”

Some of the topics being discussed include:

  • Policy Driving Excellence Delivering Change – Presented by Karen McDonnell Occupational Safety and Health Policy Adviser, RoSPA, UK
  • Overview of the RoSPA Awards – Presented by Stephen Storey L&T Corporate EHS Head(HCI IC), RoSPA Awards Ambassador, Chennai, India
  • RoSPA Award Winner Case Study – Kakraper Nuclear Power Plant, Gujarat, India
  • Global Opportunities for professional growth for HSE Professionals – Presented by Ajay Sachdeva Regional Vice President -Region IX ASSP, India
  • The Safety Challenges when Working in Remote and Linear Projects – Presented by Nigel Wirtz EHS Director WDFCC Rail Project, Rajasthan, India
  • Evolution of EHS towards Sustainability and Benefits of IEMA UK Corporate Membership/Training – Presented by Gagan Pattnaik (CEnv and MIEMA), Environment Head (L&T HCI IC)
  • Going Underground – TBM/Tunnel Safety – Presented by Russel Brown Director L&T Tunnel Excellence Academy Director, Chennai, India
  • Digital Medical Screening L&T Case Study – Presented by Sharmila Devadoss MD MedIoTek Health Systems Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India

If you’re interested in attending the event, please contact Dawn Thomson at [email protected]. Please note, this event is exclusive to RoSPA Award Winners and potential award entrants. To find out more about how to become part of our RoSPA Awards community, visit www.rospa.com/awards

Prevent Nearsightedness Complications With Early Treatment

November 10, 2022 · 7:00 AM

Prevent Nearsightedness Complications With Early Treatment
Should have spent more time outdoors

Myopia, aka nearsightedness, is extremely common and can start in childhood or young adults. Over time it can lead to early-onset cataracts, retinal detachment, and glaucoma. MedPageToday has an eye-opening article on treatments that can prevent myopia progression and complications. For example:

Common evidence-based treatments that offer both statistically significant and clinically meaningful efficacy include daytime multifocal soft contact lenses (MFSCL), overnight orthokeratology (ortho-k), and topical low dose atropine (LDA). Novel spectacle lenses also showed a promising myopia-inhibiting effect, although with limited availability in the US at the current moment. On average, these options slow myopia progression by 30-70% compared to conventional single vision glasses or contacts. With properly selected early interventions, not only the development of myopia stabilizes at younger ages, the endpoint of the progression is also much lower, resulting in significantly lower risk of complications. Furthermore, with lower levels of myopia at stabilization, many myopic patients could be good candidates for refractive surgery with given corneal thickness.

I get the impression from the article than the treatments need to be started in childhood.

Steve Parker, M.D

front cover of Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes

Filed under Uncategorized

Should You Eat With Your Hands and Eschew Cutlery?

November 22, 2022 · 7:30 AM

Should You Eat With Your Hands and Eschew Cutlery?
“Me Grok”

DailyMail has an interesting article that promotes eating with your hands instead of forks, knives and spoons. After all, caveman Grok didn’t have eating utensils.

Those who are a stickler for etiquette should look away now.

That’s because we’ve all been eating the wrong way and should be eating with our hands, according to a psychologist.

Professor Charles Spence, from the University of Oxford, said giving up cutlery is the secret to enjoying food.

He says eating with our hands can ‘heighten the dining experience’ – even for meals like pasta and messy curries.

The professor also claims that hand-feeding improves food flavor and texture while having myriad health benefits.

Steve Parker, M.D

PS: I rarely use “eschew” in conversation because few folks don’t know what it means. In general, I eschew obfuscation.

h/t Splendid Isolation

front cover of Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes

Filed under Uncategorized