Guardian Angel helps housing association achieve safety gold medal

A Stafford-based health and safety officer has been recognised with a prestigious award for her efforts to promote safer working environments.

Kathryn Ing, who works for Stafford and Rural Homes (SARH), has already guided the organisation to its fourth Gold Award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and has now been named as a RoSPA Guardian Angel for her individual efforts.

Whilst the Gold Award recognises the housing association’s commitment to putting health and safety at the core of its operations, Kathryn was nominated for her award by a fellow health and safety professional.

“As a health and safety practitioner I’ve been on the North Midlands Board of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health for the past ten years and been its treasurer,” Kathryn explained. “However, the Guardian Angel award came as a huge surprise and wasn’t something I pursued or expected.

“Having said that, it really is an honour to be recognised by your colleagues, and I’m delighted with the award.”

In addition to her work with the IOSH, Kathryn has contributed to a number of health and safety events and acted as a mentor to a number of practitioners at the start of their careers.

Kathryn has also helped SARH to achieve not just four RoSPA Gold Awards, but a Gold Medal for the second year running. The Gold Medal recognises continuous improvement in health and safety practices by organisations that have already achieved the Gold Award standard.

SARH has earned particular praise for the way it has prioritised risk within the organisation, its emergency response procedures and for the introduction of e-learning for health and safety training.

As part of the Guardian Angel nomination process, SARH Chief Executive Karen Armitage was asked to submit a testimonial and decided to sing Kathryn’s praises in a poem. After hearing that Kathryn had received the accolade, she said: “We are very proud of her and all that she has achieved.

“Kathryn’s approachable and friendly manner has gone a long way towards helping us to develop a real safety culture. As a result we enjoy excellent communication within our award-winning organisation and everyone takes responsibility for their own safety.”