The Royal Society for Prevention of Accident’s (RoSPA) first ever awards presentation outside of the United Kingdom took place at Dubai’s Hyatt Regency.


Of the wide range of awards presented to attendees, Emirates Group’s Transport Services attained the revered Team of the Year category, adding to the three Gold awards the airline won in 2021.
Also honoured during the ceremony was Williams Sale Partnership (WSP) Middle East which secured the title of Initiative of the Year (Middle East) with their ”Treat the Heat” campaign, as well as a Gold in the Achievement Award category and the Health at Work Award, given to a company that has shown best management of Health at work.
WSP Middle East’s Chief Operating Officer, Anthony Green, said:
“It is such a great achievement to win this RoSPA Gold Award for the third time.”
“Together with the Health at Work and Initiative of The Year awards, this success demonstrates the continued efforts and commitment put in by our people across all our projects and offices and illustrates the importance we continue to place on health, safety and wellbeing. Well done to everyone involved.”
Receiving the award for Winner of the Fleet Safety Trophy (Middle East) was School Transport Services LLC. Discussing how they achieved their accolade, Steve Burnell, STS Group Managing Director, said: “We strive to achieve the very best health and safety standards for our employees and customers each and every day.”
“Our values of Safe, Timely, Smart resonate with every employee, and we aim to be the role model for other companies to follow our direction. I am so proud of the team for the hard work and focus in achieving these important RoSPA awards.”
The gala was punctuated by guest speakers, including an opening address from RoSPA President Baroness Jolly and Chief Executive Officer Errol Taylor.
Remarking on the event, Mr Taylor said: “This year’s award-winning entries highlight how capably those in the health and safety can adapt and innovate in times of difficulty.
“Despite the challenges of recent years, in which safety professionals around the world saved hundreds of thousands of lives (by carrying out risk assessments and encouraging the use of masks, screens, sanitisers and social distancing) and bought time for the healthcare sector to develop and deploy Covid vaccines, the RoSPA Awards programme has continued to grow. This clearly demonstrates the safety sector’s commitment to ‘getting the job done’. RoSPA’s awards are, of course, a testament to award-winners’ hard work, innovation, creativity and resolve to continually improve performance, protecting ever more people, both in and beyond the traditional workplace.”
Also present at the evening was Julia Small, RoSPA’s Achievements Director, who said: “With an increasing level of our award entrants being based outside the UK and Europe, we knew the time was right for us to host our first international awards ceremony in Dubai, a gateway city to visitors from across the world.”
“RoSPA has many partners and links to the Middle East region, and we were thrilled by the turnout.”
“After having been confined to virtual meetings by successive Covid lockdowns, safety professionals were clearly keen to celebrate face to face! Our award winners made the most of the opportunity to renew friendships, forge new ones and exchange ideas throughout the course of the evening.”