Group News
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News
Maurice Adamson - Cornerstone of Health & Safety in the North East for over 20 years
Maurice Adamson is a household name up and down the country in the hearts and minds of safety professionals across many industry sectors. What Maurice hasn’t done for the healthy & safety movement is not worth mentioning. Over the last two decades he has worked tirelessly in improving the standards of health and safety ensuring our workers stay safe. He has been the driving force behind the committee of the Teesside Safety Group and has supported and partnered with the North East SHE Partnership on a day to day basis as well as organising many seminars and SHE events across the region.
Alan Bassett (Chairman of NESHEP and TSG committee member) talks about Maurice. “I am proud to have worked alongside Maurice for a number of years and presenting him with the ‘Golden Helmet’ for Outstanding Services to Workplace Health & Safety 2009 (Stan Winkworth Memorial Trophy) was a great honour. His tireless enthusiasm has inspired me to follow in his footsteps in improving workplace safety and I know that all the members of the Teesside Safety Group, NESHEP and many other organisations that Maurice has supported feel the same way. Maurice has been forced to stand down from his duties due to ill health; I just hope that the rest of us can do half the job that he has. I would like everybody to join me in thanking Maurice for all the work he done over the years and wish him a well deserved rest – Thanks Maurice!!!!”
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Maurice Adamson receiving the Working Well Together Certificate |
Peter Clark, Maurice’s health & safety tutor at Cleveland College Redcar and previous TSG Chairman and founder member added, “There came a time when The Teesside Construction Safety Group was struggling with committee members, due to pressures of work, I discussed this at great length with Maurice and eventually convinced him to take on the role of secretary. During the ensuing years Maurice and I just about ran the group, Maurice, due to my work load with Cleveland Bridge, virtually rang the whole shebang. We would discus finances, group programme etc over the phone and then Maurice would implement. We also had some problems with Treasurers so Maurice also took on that role. Without Maurice in those middle years the group could have fallen.
During 1994 Maurice joined the Teessafe 94 Exhibition committee and like me, with work commitment and the Group, he put his enthusiasm into the tasks given him. The Teessafe 94 like 92 was a huge success. The group will miss him for his enthusiasm, dedication and the unselfish way he put the group before all else.”
Sponsorship for firefighter John
Intrepid Lanarkshire firefighter John McQuade cycled 600 miles through five countries in five days to raise money for the Fire and Rescue Family Support Trust.
Read John's report of his marathon cycle ride: 5 Countries 5 Days (
pdf document)
John is grateful to fire service colleague John Cairns, who has managed to secure sponsorship from the Scottish Chamber of Safety, Safety Groups UK and Safety Health and Environment Forum. Each donated £100 towards the cost of the trip.
SHEF(S) visit to Strathclyde Fire & Rescue
The Safety Health & Environment Forum (Scotland) visited Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Technical Recue Training Centre on 20th May 09 as part of their annual programme.
To view a video of the day on youtube please visit: www.youtube.com/SHEFScotland
John Cairns declared runner-up in the PPE Section of the Business Manager Awards
JOHN CAIRNS VICE-CHAIRMAN OF SAFETY GROUPS UK RUNNER-UP IN NATIONAL AWARD
John Cairns, PPE Officer of Strathclyde Fire & Rescue and Vice-Chairman of Safety Groups UK, was declared the runner-up in the PPE (Personal Protective Clothing) Section of The Business Manager Awards presented as part of the Workwear and Corporate Clothing Show in Birmingham (1st April).
The award was presented by fashion and workwear design icon, Jeff Banks, at a glittering award ceremony held at the Hilton Metropole Hotel at Birmingham’s NEC.
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| John Cairns (2nd from left) and Alex McAllister of Lion Apparal Receiving their award from Jeff Banks (far left) and Bill Colven (far right) Global Business Director of Awards sponsors, Invista's Cordura Brand. |
John Cairns has been in his present role for five years, he and his team clothe 3,200 firefighters and 600 support staff. Although he is a civilian, he has been accepted within the Operations Directorate of the 2nd largest fire and rescue service in Europe.
He said, “I feel very privileged to work alongside these professional men and women. My remit is to ensure that the highest level of protection and wearer comfort can be achieved by the PPE deployed enabling firefighters to focus on saving lives and protecting property.
“I have been involved in providing innovative PPE solutions since 1974 and I particularly enjoy improving the safety at work for firefighters. I am continually discussing potential new PPE solutions and my office is always full of both firefighters and innovative PPE products.”
John was nominated for the award by Alex McAllister of Lion Apparel who supply garments to Strathclyde Fire & Rescue.
NEBOSH & BHSEA launch 2nd year of scholarships at the Safety & Health Expo in May
NEBOSH in partnership with Birmingham Health, Safety and Environment Association (BHSEA) are running a scheme for the second year that gives scholarships for some of our qualifications.
Small Enterprises (50 employees or less) based in the West Midlands Region are being invited to apply for one free place on the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety. The certificate is the most widely held health and safety qualification in the UK, with over 100,000 people having gained the award since it was launched in 1989. Members of the BHSEA can exclusively apply for a scholarship for the NEBOSH Certificate in Construction Health and Safety. Successful applicants in each case will have their course fees paid for by BHSEA and their examination fee waived by NEBOSH. In addition the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) have agreed to offer each candidate Affiliate membership free for one year. The places will be allocated on an open competition arrangement.
Barry Wilkes, Development Manager at NEBOSH commented “As a registered charity, we at NEBOSH strongly believe that we have an obligation to work with other charitable organisations in promoting health and safety, particularly through education and training”. He continued “We ran this scheme for the first time last year and were delighted with the response and are very happy to support this initiative again.”
BHSEA Secretary, Andy Chappell, added “BHSEA is a Registered Charity, which exists solely to promote improvements in Health and Safety in the Workplace. We see this financial support for the smaller firms as the most practical way of achieving really worthwhile improvements in worker protection and accident reduction, where it is needed most.”
Hazel Harvey, Director of Professional Affairs at IOSH, said: “We are delighted to be able to support this regional training initiative for small enterprises. Statistics from Middlesex University Business School for the HSE estimate that the rate of fatalities in small workplaces is double that of larger workplaces (200 workers or more). It’s vital that all organisations, especially smaller businesses, access professional safety and health training. As a corollary to this, membership of IOSH provides access to extensive technical support and opportunities for professional development.”
For further information on the scheme and an application form visit the NEBOSH website.
Presentations made to the Outward Bound Trust
Presentations made on behalf of three North West Groups, the North West Regional Association, South Cumbria and Lancashire to the Outward Bound Trust.
Presentation to Dr David Haworth, Lancashire Outward Bound |
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Mike Kershaw on behalf of the North West Association of Health & Safety Groups |
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Mark Burns on behalf of the Lancashire Occupational Health & Safety Group |
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Martin Fishwick on behalf of the South Cumbria Occupational Health and Safety Group |
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Bill Greville, David Sowerby, Dr David Haworth, Mike Kershaw, Martin Fishwick and Mark Burns |
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The donations for the Outward Bound are for supporting the young children with special needs on numerous field and adventure courses in the wonderful Lake District.