College wins internationally-recognised health and safety award for the third year running.

Abingdon & Witney College has retained its prestigious Gold Achievement Award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) for the third year in a row.

This award recognises the college's practices and achievements in helping staff, students, visitors and contractors get home safely at the end of the working day.

Organisations receiving a RoSPA Award are recognised as being world-leaders in health and safety practices. Every year, nearly 2,000 entrants vie to achieve the highest possible accolade in what is the UK’s longest-running H&S industry awards. The panel of judges, consisting of highly experienced health and safety professionals, consider a business’ various health and safety actions and focus on how accidents at work can be reduced through risk assessment and management.

Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of qualifications, awards and events, said: “The RoSPA Awards scheme is the longest-running of its kind in the UK, but it receives entries from organisations around the world, making it one of the most sought-after global accolades in health and safety.

“RoSPA wants every employee, wherever they are, to work safely in the knowledge that they will be going home unharmed and healthy at the end of every day. The RoSPA Award winners are vital to helping achieve this goal, as by entering they are driving up standards and setting new benchmarks for organisations everywhere. Currently, around 7million people are directly impacted by the RoSPA Awards, but the scheme’s influence is even wider.”

John Revis, Head of Occupational Safety & Health, said: “When compiling our submission, we always emphasis that this is a whole college effort and that we embrace health and safety as a college. In our feedback, we are congratulated by ROSPA for this collaborative approach to keeping staff and students safe!”

The College continually seeks to improve its health and safety – from how effective health and safety communication is within the organisation, to its performance in investigating incidents at the workplace.