City wins top health and safety award

Edinburgh Building Services, the Council’s in-house building organisation, has won a bronze award for its approach to occupational health and safety.

EBS, which has direct responsibility for 23,000 homes, was awarded the accolade by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents at a gala dinner in Glasgow on 25 September.

EBS has carried out a range of projects in the past two years which helped secure the award.

These included:

• a project aimed at reducing on-site reportable accidents which led to a 45 per cent reduction in incidents and a saving of £250,000 in lost days
• introducing a range of health initiatives including a lunchtime ramblers group, a slimming group and a stop smoking group
• training on lifting, slips and falls and working at heights
• training for managers on risk assessing and how to prevent accidents.

Staff are currently working on noise and vibration assessments and plan to continue to target areas that can be improved in the field of occupational health and safety to create a safe and healthy working environment for all.