European prices for Dutch Good Practice
The European Week Lighten the load concluded on 26 February 2008 with a European summit in Bilbao, Spain. During this conference the prize winners of the European Good Practice Award were announced. From the EU member states 36 good practices were nominated for the European Good Practice Award.
The two Dutch nominations have won the Award:
- Dycore BV with “The replacement of traditional wooden pallets by incorporating a recessed EPS component into the product itself”
- Gardien Bedrijfsfysiotherapie BV with “Reduced lifting through smart design; reduced physical demands placed on the City of Delft’s road workers”
More information about the Good Practice winners>>
From Ignacio Samper (European Parlement Office), Jose Luis González Vallvé (European Commission Representation), Jukka Takala (Director of the EU-OSHA Agency) the Dutch winners receive the European Good Practice Awards.
Léon Gardien from Gardien Bedrijfsfysiotherapie bv and André Verbeek from Delft city council.
Jeroen van der Giessen, Marriet de Jonge, Rob van Tilburg, from Dycore B.V.
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Press Release: Netherlands wins two European Health and Safety in the Workplace Awards
Bilbao, 26 February 2008
An amazing method for dealing with the physical problems encountered by road workers, and an outstanding way of tackling the source of the difficulties faced by employees who work with heavy blocks. These were the formulas with which two entries from the Netherlands today won a European Good Practice Award in the Spanish city of Bilbao. The creators of the winning Good Practices are Dycore BV, a firm from Lelystad, and company physiotherapist Gardien Bedrijfsfysiotherapie BV together with the Delft city council. It is the first time that the Netherlands has won prizes for two entries.
The two Dutch winners today received their awards during the ‘Lighten the Load’ European summit. The ceremony marked the end of a year-long European campaign designed to combat the problem of employees becoming unable to work as a result of physical strain.
The first Dutch prizewinner, Dycore BV from Lelystad, manufactures and supplies concrete system floors. To transport them, the company used to use hollowed-out wooden blocks, into which the prongs of a fork-lift truck would go. However, lifting the blocks was backbreaking work. In consultation with the employees, the company came up with a solution: to cut out part of the floor’s underlay of polystyrene foam, in order that this could accommodate the prongs of the fork-lift trucks. “An excellent example of tackling a problem at source and eliminating the risk,” said the jury that awarded the company the Dutch version of the Good Practices prize. “The product itself has been modified, so that the risk has been completely eradicated. It couldn’t be any better.”
The second European prize went to company physiotherapist Léon Gardien of Gardien Bedrijfsfysiotherapie BV and André Verbeek of the Delft city council. They won their award for a solution to the enormous physical problems faced by the city’s road makers, which were in part responsible for the ten per cent sickness rate in the late nineties. The solution was found in the way local districts were being designed. Architects were taking insufficient account of the obstacles that road makers were having to deal with. Often, the streets were designed too narrow for cranes or lifting gear to enter them. Gardien organised a discussion between road makers and architects. As a result, the latter came up with suggestions for lightening the workload. This approach led to the formation of practical solutions as well as a handbook with guidelines, to which architects working in Delft must adhere. Absenteeism through sickness fell between 2003 and 2005 by 3.9 per cent. “A splendid, excellent Good Practice,” according to the Dutch jury that also nominated the Practice for the 2007 European Award. “The solutions were arrived at through careful and thorough consultations between employees and the employer, which also resulted in standard agreements about designs.”
In Bilbao, it seems that both the nominations from the Netherlands scored well at a European level as well. No fewer than 36 nominations from twenty countries were put forward, of which nine received an award, including the two from the Netherlands.
The Good Practice Award is organised by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.
