Foreword - December 2018

WE HAVE reached the final issue of the year, and it has been an exciting one for HSM. We have really shaken things up on the editorial front, and have seen lots of fantastic content, providing health and safety professionals with up-to-date information and advice. On top of our regular columns – which you may have noticed we have more of – we have been giving you lots of news, dedicated pages on prosecutions and longer, more technical articles in our features.

We introduced webinars this year, and these highly-topical presentations have given our listeners a chance to interact with us. These have always been very focused, and we have enjoyed providing you with this additional source of information. These have been free for listeners, and many have enjoyed listening to these on demand.

But we are not resting on our laurels and as we look ahead to 2019 there are plenty of things to look forward to. Event wise, we kick things off with The Health and Safety Event in NEC Birmingham (9-11 April 2019). Later in the year we look forward to Health Safety North at EventCity, Manchester (8-9 October 2019), and both of these growing events provide visitors with exceptional seminars and lots of companies from all strands of the industry. You can find out more about the shows at www.healthandsafetyevents.co.uk/event.

But there is also even greater change that has just happened with our parent company Western Business Exhibitions being recently acquired by Nineteen Group. You can see more information about this in our news pages but it’s a really exciting time for us as a magazine and as a business. It will see increased investment in the business, which will see our content reaching a much wider audience.

Celebrating success

The Health Excellence Awards take place on 10 April 2019 at the Vox, Resorts World in Birmingham and it is not too late to enter. Last year, the black-tie evening was attended by more than 420 people. Categories include Health and Safety Manager of the Year, H&S Team of the Year, Unsung Hero, Fire Innovation of the Year, Security Innovation of the Year, Campaign of the Year, Best H&S in Construction, Rising Star, Best H&S in Manufacturing and Best H&S Project. The BSIF Awards will also be a key part of the evening.

They are free to enter and will only take a few minutes of your time. They are the perfect way to gain recognition for your staff, team or company for raising the bar for safety standards, and nominations can be made on www.she-awards.co.uk.

The event will be hosted by comedian Sean Lock and guests will enjoy a drinks reception, three course meal, live band and entertainment, comedy from Sean Lock and the awards presentation itself. Tickets cost £199+VAT per person or £1,800+VAT for a table of ten. You can book your tickets at www.she-awards.co.uk.

I’d also like to take the opportunity to wish BSIF general manager Frank Angear all the best in his retirement. I’ve not known Frank very long but have enjoyed working with him. All the team here speak very glowingly about how supportive he’s been and what a great contribution he’s made to the industry. You can read an interview with Frank in this issue and he will be sorely missed.

Merry Christmas 

We will continue to update the website with all the industry news and prosecutions right up to the Christmas break and then straight after the new year, so while this might be the last issue of 2018, we will continue to keep you informed, so keep checking www.hsmsearch.com.

We hope you enjoy the issue, and from myself and the team I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.