The British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS), the chartered society for
worker health protection, has celebrated and recognised the
exceptional work of its members at a virtual award ceremony that
took place on 28th June.
The winners were honoured for their remarkable achievements in
key areas of worker health protection.
HSE scientist Adam Clarke, pictured below, won the
Early Career Occupational Hygienist Award for his essay on
"The Future of Occupational Hygiene and the Effects of New
Technology on the Profession", discussing the use of
artificial intelligence and automation in the manufacturing sector.
This essay will be published in the BOHS journal
Exposure.
The BOHS Peter Isaac
Award, which recognises an outstanding initiative contributing
to the reduction of ill health at work, was awarded to
the "HSE Programme of Cooling Tower Interventions
2013-2014".
The team, which included Duncan Smith, Sam Lord, John
Healy, Priti Shah, Martin Dilworth, Martin Gibson, Julie
Helps, Martin Belcher, Rob Williams and Gordon Smith, played a
strategic role in the delivery of a major intervention in order to
achieve sustained compliance amongst cooling tower operators and to
reduce the likelihood of low-frequency high-consequence
Legionnaires' disease outbreaks.
Their award winning work was underpinned by robust
scientific evidence. Prior analysis by HSE published
in HEX/12/07 showed that in the 10 years to
August 2011, there were 7 cooling tower outbreaks accounting for
193 cases of Legionnaires' disease and 10 deaths. Subsequent
monitoring by HSE revealed that in the 6 years since June 2014,
there has only been 1 cooling tower outbreak with 5 cases and no
deaths.
HSE published Research Report RR1118 on the causes of non-compliance during
the intervention and a peer-reviewed paper by Crook, Willerton,
Smith et al : Legionella risk in evaporative cooling
systems and underlying causes of associated breaches in health and
safety compliance has recently been published in the
International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health
here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.113425
Kevin Bampton, CEO of BOHS, said,
"In many ways this has been the year workplace health protection
has become the dominant issue. Award-winners this year are being
recognised for their commitment and expertise in the context of
prevention of exposure to hazards which kill thousands every year.
Without the dedication and professionalism of people such as our
award-winners who work in the occupational hygiene profession,
thousands more would be suffering or dying prematurely."