The John Gordon Safety Person Of The Year Award 2025

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Sponsored by Safety Advice Centre

Everyone has an important role to play in relation to health and safety in their company or organisation.

NISG recognises the important contributions that many individuals make towards safety, health, wellbeing and incident prevention.

The John Gordon ‘Safety Person of the Year’ Award is designed to celebrate the individual who has made the greatest contribution to health and safety in their workplace in the last year.

Showcasing the NISG John Gordon 2024 Award winners at the NISG 2024 Awards Dinner

The 11th Annual NISG John Gordon Award winners for 2024 were announced and presented at our 2024 Awards Dinner in La Mon Hotel, Belfast on the 7^th of November. These awards were first launched at the NISG 60^th Anniversary Dinner in 2013, as a surprise to John, who was with us for the celebrations.

John Gordon was a stalwart of the NISG Executive Committee and the go-to man when seeking advice on the organisation’s Constitution. He was involved with the group almost from inception until shortly before his passing in 2015 and was the epitome of what “a great advocate of health and safety” is considered to be.

Sponsored by Safety Advice Centre, Bangor, the John Gordon Safety Person of the Year Award is designed to celebrate the individual regardless of their position within a company, who has made the greatest contribution to health and safety in the workplace.

The winner(s) will always be the ‘unsung hero’ and a person who does this, not because it is their role, but because they believe everyone has a right to arrive home from work safe and unharmed.

In 2024 the Awards Sub-committee were delighted to present two worthy winners from Adman Civil Projects Ltd. and Bulrush Horticulture Ltd.with awards.

The Adman Civil Projects Ltd. winner - Colm O'Neill - is a General Site Operative.

L-R Colm O'Neill with Bill McAllister (Safety Advice Centre – Award Sponsor)

Colm O’Neil was nominated for his quick thinking and bravery, which prevented a potentially tragic incident from taking place while he was at work. His actions demonstrated his compassion and unwavering commitment to safety, both on and off the job. His company and their client were later able to collaborate in creating a pocket reference guide, detailing what do to in the event of an emergency, with Colm’s direct input and event experience. Colm's actions set a powerful example for his peers and reflect the highest standards of safety and care.

The Bulrush Horticulture Ltd. winner - Pat Walls - is the Managing Director.

L-R Pat Walls with Bill McAllister (Safety Advice Centre – Award Sponsor)

Pat, through his personal behaviour and attitude, has instilled a positive safety culture throughout the Bulrush operation within NI. This has resulted in an extremely safety conscious workforce with unbelievably low accident rate. It has also extended to contractors and delivery drivers working / visiting Bulrush sites. Pat will challenge any unsafe behaviours and spend time explaining the Bulrush safe way of doing things. Due to Bulrush NI leading the Pinstrup group in safety performance, Pat has been appointed as global Safety Champion and is currently developing safety structures in Spain, Denmark, Latvia and Brazil modelling Bulrush NI. Pat instils the principle of safety first – safety taking priority over productivity and quality, whatever the cost. He also convinced the Pinstrup Board of Directors that this should be applied globally, and the Managing Director in each country now have to formally sign up to this principle.

Well done to both winners and we also wish to thank the nominees from both organisations for entering Colm and Patfor the John Gordon Award – without these nominees taking the time to complete the application form, they would not have received this well-deserved recognition.

What We Are Looking For

The spirit of the John Gordon Award is to honour the individual who goes above and beyond their role in the pursuit of good health and safety, therefore anyone can be nominated!

There are no restrictions on who can win. Applications for all individuals will be treated in exactly the same way, including managers (however senior) who have gone the extra mile and demonstrated superior safety leadership.

Nominations are particularly welcomed from those who do not work directly in a health and safety role and who do not have a health and safety qualification higher than a NEBOSH Certificate or its equivalent.