NW BT Co-ord Congratulates Dave Joyce Winning IOSH Achiever Of The Year Award

London’s Park Lane Hilton Hotel 20th October 2010, was the setting for the fourth annual Safety and Health Practitioner (SHP) Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) awards ceremony. The impressive black-tie event, held at London's Park Lane Hilton Hotel, paid homage to the endeavours and achievements of health and safety practitioners around the country - individuals and organisations.

This year Dave Joyce, CWU National Health and Safety Officer, was honoured with the Achiever of the Year award after being nominated for the award for his tremendous effort in launching the CWU Bite-Back campaign to change the Dangerous Dogs Act and address the thousands of attacks on postal workers and telecoms engineers by dogs every year.

The NW BT Unions Health and Safety Co-ordinators Committee has backed this campaign as readers of this website will know and is proud that Dave has been recognised for the work he has done in launching and promoting the campaign.

The Co-ord's Chairperson, Derek Maylor congratulated Dave saying:

" The Co-ord is absolutely delighted that the CWU and Dave in particular has been recognised for the work done in the sphere of health and safety. To the extent that Dave has been personally awarded Achiever of the Year Award by IOSH reflects the importance of Dave's personal commitment to the health and safety of CWU members through his work on dangerous dogs and the CWU's Bite Back campaign which he launched."

Derek concluded:

" This unique and much needed campaign has been a thorough success both in terms of the publicity around the issue and the changes in the law it has brought. We congratulate Dave on this superb achievement and in winning the IOSH award that he greatly deserves."

CWU's website reported the news of Dave's award and detailed the campaign Dave was instrumental in setting up:

"The campaign focused mainly on introducing new UK-wide laws that would apply to dog attacks on private property, the introduction of dog-control notices and harsher sentences for offending dangerous-dog owners. Dave won the support of other interested organisations and charities, such as RSPCA, the Kennel Club, and the Police Federation in addition to meeting with government ministers and party leaders, including the prime minister.

On his achievement, Dave said: "I am delighted to win such a prestigious health and safety award. I am proud for myself, the CWU and for trade unions in general who so rarely get the accolades they deserve when in competition with the private sector."

Among the many impressive results of Dave's efforts, the campaign secured the introduction of new guidance by government environment department Defra for the public and the enforcing authorities; the introduction of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act, which comes into force next year; and a commitment from the new Westminster government to similarly change the law and improve enforcement and owner accountability.

Furthermore, the campaign has lead to the introduction of the Northern Ireland Dogs (Amendment) Bill which applies to private land and will enforce compulsory dog licences and micro-chipping among other measures.

Dave commented: "Given the rise in dog attacks this year, the campaign is as important as ever and we will continue to exert pressure on the government to ensure our objectives are achieved."

In awarding Dave the coveted award, the judging panel, consisting of 12 industry experts including Hugh Robertson of the TUC, Dr Olivia Carlton, Transport for London and Stephen Granger, IOSH president-elect, to name a few, recognised the huge amount of time and effort invested into a very successful campaign that tackled a risk not just significant for a number of occupations but for the general public, as well."

You can see pics of the award ceremony and of Dave receiving his award here

Bite Back Campaign web pages here

Source: CWU / Unionsafety

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