Oberstown wins health and safety award for incident management

The health and safety team at Oberstown were finalists in two categories at the Enterprise Risk Network Recognition Awards, hosted by the State Claims Agency (SCA).

The team won the overall award for National Incident Management System (NIMS) incident reporting and investigating, and came in the top three for the Oberstown corporate risk register.

The winning entry was based on a new NIMS tool to close out on the investigation side of incidents and accidents. The tool, which Oberstown has been using for the past number of months, identifies immediate and underlying causes of incidents and the corrective actions to prevent reoccurrence and allows for tracking of trends in relation to incidents.

Congratulating the Oberstown town, Children’s Minister Dr Katherine Zappone said: “I was delighted that Oberstown was among the finalists in two categories – the ‘Long Term Value’ and ‘NIMS Incident Investigation’ categories. I understand that there were a large number of initiatives submitted and the standard of these was very high. It is therefore a significant achievement for Oberstown to be the overall winner in the ‘NIMS Incident Investigation’ category.”

Oberstown deputy director Greg Flanagan, who has responsibility for risk management, said: “The awards are an indication that the Campus is making progress in the risk management area as part of the strategic objective of delivering robust governance and driving effective accountability at all levels. Receiving an award for the management of enterprise risk gives the risk management team the impetus to carry on with the goal of achieving ISO Certification for health & safety and catering in Oberstown.”

Oberstown director Pat Bergin added: “We are delighted with the success for Oberstown at the ERN awards. These awards recognise the very best practice in risk management in the public sector, and I am very proud of all the staff at Oberstown that we were the winners in NIMS Incident Investigation category. It’s a great boost for the team and it follows on from a year of steady and consistent progress on the campus after a period of major change.”