Safety Smart wins Health and Safety Executive National Innovation in Safety Award

The winner of the inaugural IOSH and the HSE Innovation in safety – small business award has been announced. Anthony Tetlow, Managing Director of Safety Smart Risk Management Consultants was selected as the winner for the development of the world’s first industry-specific health and safety apps for the iPhone, iPad and iTouch platforms.

The competition was launched in September 2010 – the aim being to find new ideas to improve health and safety in small businesses.

Anthony, a Chartered Member of IOSH, is the Managing Director of Safety Smart Risk Management Consultants. He won the award for creating the world’s first industry-specific health and safety apps for the iPhone, iPad and iTouch platforms.

Anthony was approached by the management at Colour Room a hairdressing salon, based in Stockport, Cheshire, to help them develop a better safety culture among their staff – they were finding it difficult to balance the demands of running a busy salon and providing accurate health and safety information to their employees. The app is called ‘Safety Smart Salon’. It contains salon-specific health and safety information to help the Colour Room management run their business safely and give employees access to accurate health and safety information on their devices at all times.

The development aim of the app was to simplify health and safety information and produce a piece of software that was user-friendly, cheap and that could be updated on an ongoing basis in line with best practice, changes to legislation and salon safety arrangements. The app was launched in June 2010 and all the staff received a training session on how to use it correctly. It also became part of the induction for new staff.

The business has benefited from this app as they can now guarantee that every employee – from the director to salon junior – has access to relevant health and safety information which is always up to date. The app has enabled the Colour Room to manage their own health and safety without having to spend money on employing expensive consultants, buying costly internet-based software and printing leaflets and manuals. It has also had a positive impact on staff morale, as they now recognise that they are working for an employer who genuinely cares for them. They’ve also had positive feedback from parents/guardians of work experience students, as it gives them the extra assurance that their child is being cared for at work.

The app took approximately six months to develop. Anthony and the Colour Room management team developed it by working nights and weekends. They were fortunate to be assisted, at a very small cost, by a team of experienced editors who helped them apply the finishing touches to their text. In addition, they were partnered by an app developer who donated their initial services for free, in return for a percentage cut on any future sales of apps which would be developed and sold on iTunes and the App Store.

On winning the award Anthony said:

“As Managing Director of Safety Smart and creator of the world’s first industry-specific range of health and safety apps, I am extremely proud to receive this award from the HSE and IOSH. A considerable amount of work has gone into the development of our apps. To receive recognition from the HSE and IOSH is beyond our wildest expectations and I am truly honoured. We hope our apps help people manage health and safety effectively, no matter at what level they are employed.

“In addition, as a growing health and safety consultancy we hope that winning this award will further enhance our reputation while serving to provide assurance of our knowledge base and competence to both existing and prospective clients.

“Finally, I would personally like to thank Judith Donovan CBE, all the staff at the Colour Room, Stockport and www.feelhq.com for helping this become possible.”

The competition was judged by the founder of the award, HSE’s Judith Donovan CBE, as well as the HSE’s Regional Director for the Midlands, Rosi Edwards; IOSH Immediate Past President, John Holden; and IOSH Vice President, John Lacey.

About the winning entry, Judith said:
“Our winner was a clear winner, because it was a highly innovative technical solution to create a health and safety app to go on the iPhone/iPad. More importantly the hairdressing sector is genuinely dominated by SMEs and has a continual flow of young people coming in for training. We were pleased to see that parents welcomed this app and that they actually thought that it made their children safer.”

John Holden added: “The winner stood out for me because it was piece of technology young people would use. Young people we know are particularly at risk in the workplace, so anything that gets them on board in the workplace has got to be a plus.”

As well as the ‘Safety Smart Salon’ app, Anthony has also developed the ‘Safety Smart Construction’ app with ‘Safety Smart Retail’ close to completion.

In addition, a free to download app called the ‘Safety Smart Shelf’ which provides an A–Z of health and safety and frequently asked questions has been developed. The ‘Safety Smart Shelf’ also has a facility which enables users to purchase the industry specific app of their choice

The award winning ‘Safety Smart Salon’ app (£5), the ‘Safety Smart Construction’ app (£5) and the ‘Safety Smart Shelf’ (free) are currently available by clicking on the following link Safety Smart Apps and the App Store.