50th ISA Banquet – Celebrated in Style

The cream of the BSC’s members came together in May 2008 at London’s glamorous Grosvenor House Hotel to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the BSC’s International Safety Awards. Guests were treated to a fabulous array of the best of the best entertainment from recent years.

Organisations from around the world were in attendance at the awards ceremony to receive their prestigious International Safety Award from the BSC.

The evening began with formal presentations of Award certificates to the 160 winning companies, some of which received multiple awards, and photographs with the BSC’s Chief Executive, Brian Nimick, and Members of the Board.

This year’s event was a record breaker with over 1,000 guests in attendance. They enjoyed a lavish four course banquet before being treated to the incredible talent of the Bar Wizards who showed off their amazing flaring skills. Then came the speeches from Chairman of the Board Nina Wrightson, Brian Nimick and the sponsor for this year’s ISA awards, Nakheel, the Dubai-based real estate developer.

Brian Nimick started by thanking the Health and Safety Executive for its continued support of the ISAs before congratulating the winners on their ‘contribution to the wellbeing and safety of their workforce’. He also took the opportunity to welcome special guests including Lord McKenzie of Luton, the Government’s health and safety minister, and Geoffrey Podger, the Chief Executive of the HSE.

In his speech, Brian made reference to the ‘conkers bonkers’ safety stories and asked the winning companies for their help in promoting and encouraging a much stronger emphasis on ‘sensible safety’. He said: “We cannot afford to have the health and safety agenda hijacked by those looking for a good story rather than a real story.”

Brian also talked about the BSC’s recent ‘Safe & Sound’ survey, which found that the majority of employers and employees believe that health and safety should begin at school. To equip young people with basic knowledge of health and safety, the BSC has developed and funded an entry level qualification, which so far has been taken up by some 70,000 young people. Brian told guests that the BSC hoped to increase take-up to 200,000 youngsters over the next few years.

Abdulrahman Kalantar from Nakheel, then went on to applaud the BSC’s commitment to safety over the last 50 years. Nakheel is currently developing a number of projects in Dubai including ‘the Palm Trilogy’, ‘the World’ and ‘Waterfront’, which when finished, will add more than 600 miles of beachfront to the Dubai coastline.

To mark Nakheel’s sponsorship of this year’s ISA awards, it presented the special ‘British Safety Council – Nakheel International Award in Business Sustainability’ to the company that achieved the highest score on the BSC’s Five Star Environmental Audit in the last 12 months.

Abdulrahman Kalantar and Brian Nimick presented Tata Chemicals Ltd with the award and Anwar Hasan who accepted the award said: “Tata accords the highest degree of importance to health, safety and sustainability, and this award is a manifestation of that. We dedicate this award to all the employees of Tata Chemicals Ltd who have made this possible and we would like to thank the British Safety Council for this award.”

Pictured above, left to right, are Brian Nimick, BSC Chief Executive, Abdulrahman Kalantar from Nakheel, and Anwar Hasan from Tata UK.

Following dinner and the speeches, the cabaret began with a splendid selection of entertaining performers. First up were the Moulin Rouge dancers and they were followed by a spectacular indoor fireworks display.

After a short video featuring major events from the past 50 years to commemorate the ISA’s half century, Paul Zerdin the ventriloquist, along with his puppet friend Charlie, had the entire audience in hysterics with their act.

Comedian Bobby Davro was the headline act and he kept the audience laughing with funny stories and impersonations before the Can Can dancers brought the cabaret to a close. 60s tribute band The Overtures rounded off the event nicely and had guests dancing the night away until the early hours.

Promoting safety. Saving lives.

A noble past

The National Safety Awards were set up by the British Safety Council in 1958. In 2004, the scheme was renamed the International Safety Awards to accommodate the high demand for worldwide safety. Only companies which achieve accident rates better than the industry average can apply and the application criteria have become increasingly stringent over recent years.

An inspiring present

Winners of the award have shown commitment to health and safety from the boardroom to the shop floor. The accolade is recognition of hard work and commitment which increases morale among employers and employees.

An exciting future

Companies that annually apply for the award can build up their record of consecutive years. Many winning organisations boast an impressive tally developed over decades.

The scheme is getting bigger and better every year, with a wide variety of applicants including hospitals, power stations and oil refineries. More and more employers are realising the value of an International Safety Award.

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