UPM Tilhill wins top trophy at RoSPA awards 2015

WEST MIDLANDS, U.K. - July 17, 2015 - PRLog -- The latest award wins are the pinnacle of UPM Tilhill’s 10 consecutive years of success at the RoSPA awards. This year, UPM Tilhill has been judged ahead of 2,000 other companies from across the UK and overseas to scoop the Sir George Earle trophy. As a result, UPM Tilhill’s name will now be added to the RoSPA roll of honour and sit alongside the likes of Balfour Beatty, Toyota, PowerGen and Esso to name but a few.

UPM Tilhill’s Managing Director, George McRobbie said: “Winning this award is a landmark event in the company’s history. It is well known that forestry remains one of the most hazardous work places and this makes this achievement even more impressive.

“The safety of our staff, contractors and the public is our top priority. We started our safety culture campaign ‘Insist on Safety’ in 2009 and we continue to build on this while contributing to the safety of the industry as a whole through our work with the Forest Industry Safety Accord (FISA). The forestry industry still has an unacceptably poor safety record and we will continue to work with FISA and now RoSPA to improve the situation. We hope our latest awards will help to encourage everyone in our industry to do more to improve. There is much more to do.”

UPM Tilhill has committed to working with RoSPA to further improve safety among staff and contractors as well as the public using the forests.

The awards are part of a prestigious annual scheme run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. UPM Tilhill’s awards were presented during a ceremony at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, at the National Exhibition Centre, on July 15, 2015.

As the UK’s family safety charity, RoSPA’s mission to save lives and reduce injuries covers all ages and stages of life. In support of this mission, the RoSPA Awards, which date back 59 years, recognise commitment to continuous improvement in accident and ill-health prevention at work. Through the scheme, which is open to businesses and organisations of all types and sizes from across the UK and overseas, judges consider entrants’ overarching occupational health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.

David Rawlins, RoSPA’s awards manager, said: “The RoSPA Awards encourage improvement in occupational health and safety management. Organisations that gain recognition for their health and safety management systems, such as UPM Tilhill, contribute to raising standards overall and we congratulate them.”

The majority of RoSPA’s awards are non-competitive, grading achievement at merit, bronze, silver and gold levels. Organisations that maintain high standards in consecutive years can win gold medals, president’s awards and orders of distinction.

Competitive awards are presented in more than 20 industry sectors, and they also recognise excellence in specialist areas, such as the management of occupational road risk (MORR).

The sponsors of the RoSPA Awards 2015 are: headline sponsor - NEBOSH; The RoSPA International Sector Award - airsweb; The MORR Trophy - Allianz; The International Dilmun Environmental Award - GPIC; The Best New Entry Trophy - Safety and Health Expo; The Workforce Involvement in Safety and Health Trophy - Springfields Fuels; and, The MORR Technology Trophy - Tesco Dotcom.  See www.rospa.com/awards/ for more information about the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards.

UPM Tilhill, established more than 60 years ago, is a national company operating from a network of offices throughout the UK. UPM Tilhill is the UK’s largest forest management and timber harvesting company. The company provides a full range of consultancy and contracting services to the forest owner and forestry investor.  Further information is available at www.upm-tilhill.com

ENDS

Notes to editors: Through the renewing of the bio and forest industries, UPM is building a sustainable future across six business areas: UPM Biorefining, UPM Energy, UPM Raflatac, UPM Paper Asia, UPM Paper Europe and North America and UPM Plywood. Our products are made of renewable raw materials and are recyclable. We serve our customers worldwide. The group employs around 21,000 people and its annual sales are approximately     € 10 billion. UPM shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. UPM – The Biofore Company – www.upm.com

For further information contact Suzi Christie PR Consultant for UPM Tilhill on 01435 830031 or e-mail suzi@blueberry-pr.co.uk