Health & safety is paramount, says the company, but a radical approach to change is sometimes necessary to encourage employee ownership.

Its initiative certainly achieved that aim – its offer of training for NVQ Level 1 in Health & Safety at Work was initially intended to be “first come, first served”, but an overwhelming response led to the roll-out for all 92 shopfloor employees.

All training was carried out within company time. The course contains 14 modules, covering a wide range of disciplines, and has a final multiple-choice examination that allows assessment of the effectiveness of the training.

The judges noted that for a company of its size, Robinson had got results from just one initiative. “It’s clear this programme was a big thing for the company. A lot of time and effort went into it,” said a judge.

Robinson said that in 2006 the company had no RIDDOR accidents for the first time this decade, just one incident resulted in lost time of two days, compared 130 days lost time in 2005, and its recorded accidents dropped by one-third.

The programme was logistically difficult and involved early morning training sessions. A missed lesson was given later on a one-to-one basis to ensure no-one fell behind. The Plastics Industry Awards judges also noted that some individuals received a followup from the training team. “The company has gone a step further than most in making sure everyone has understood the training,” said a member of the judging panel.

Robinson’s programme, designed to raise health and safety awareness, was rolled out last year and has continued into 2007. A monitoring committee was also formed to continue assessment of the health & safety programme.

The award was sponsored by LINPAC.