The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

NDA’s second annual Health and Safety Conference attracts over 220 delegates

09 July 2008

Over 220 delegates attended the NDA’s second annual Health & Safety “Leading, Learning and Sharing” conference which took place in Nottingham in mid May.

The event is specially geared to support trade union safety representatives and employee safety representatives from the NDA sites to contribute to improved health and safety performance and the sharing of recognised good practice techniques.

Opening the conference, Alan Rae, NDA’s Director of Nuclear, Health, Safety, Security and the Environment, said:

“The conference gives you all an opportunity to tell others about the things you do well. It allows you to find out from others how you can do things better.”

“Everybody can use this conference as a mechanism to drive ‘Leading’ as a core behaviour, ‘Learning’ as a core value and ‘Sharing’ as a core strength on your sites.”

He said the overall picture on health and safety across the NDA sites was one of improving performance, compared to other industries, with many sites demonstrating excellence in terms of reduced incidents and lost days from accidents.

The keynote speech was by Paul Woodhouse, the Health and Safety Executive’s Superintending Inspector in the Nuclear Directorate.

Much of the conference time allowed delegates to network and learn from each others experiences. Each site had a stand to help show their best practice and techniques on health and safety. There were also a number of trade stands from suppliers of safety equipment.

Delegates had an opportunity to attend break out sessions with presentations from:

• Andrew McNeil from EBIS on Corporate Manslaughter Case Law
• Stuart Gardiner and Lol Ashworth on Sharing Good Practice through the BP Safety Forum
• Andrew Dunderdale on Benchmarking at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)
• Elaine Cameron on Behavioural Safety and Stress Management and Paul Baker on the Health and Safety Laboratory

The highlight of the event was the interactive theatre based learning and development workshop presented by AKT Productions. Based on a real case (an incident at Gatwick Airport) a team of actors led the audience through the incident, from the build up to it and its aftermath. The conference delegates were given the opportunity to consider the scenario and ultimately come up with a solution that would have avoided it.

Another highlight was presentation by the 2006 “Healthy Employer of the Year” award winners, Kathryn Glendinning and Sue Baggley from Proctor and Gamble’s Newcastle Technical Centre. Kathryn and Sue won the award for employee engagement and motivation through the promotion of health and well being.

The conference was ably facilitated by Robin MacIntosh and the feedback from the delegates was all very positive. The raffle held during the event raised a staggering £500 for charity.