Orbit’s Head of Customer Safety, Neil Yeomans, has won the prestigious Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Influencer Award for 2020.
The award is granted to individuals that have made the biggest impact in health and safety either at work or in the community in the past 12 months.
Neil was nominated by Jayne Lombardi, Head of Health Safety and Insurance at Orbit, but the first he knew about it was when he was announced as the winner.
He said: “I’m ecstatic and humbled to win this award, as it really confirms why I do, what I do. I’m so proud about the way we do things at Orbit - we don’t see people just as numbers, we see them as people, trusting us to keep them safe.
“Keeping people safe was the mission I set out upon when I joined Orbit, and the only reason I have been able to influence others, and win this award, is due to my amazing team and the support from colleagues Thank you to everyone that has put up with me along the way – this award is yours too!”
Jayne added: “We put the safety of customers first at Orbit and Neil is the driving force behind this, he has influenced and had the support from senior management. As a safety professional, I am blown away at how much Neil does to keep our 100,000 customers safe.
“If there is anyone really driving customer safety, not only for our customers but for the sector, it is Neil, I am extremely proud to be his colleague and to work with him on some of these achievements.”
Neil was recognised for influencing the sector, always being aware of customer safety, for making a number of keynote speaker culture change addresses and talking passionately about the journey and move from compliance to customer safety at many high-profile events.
The RoSPA Health and Safety Awards receive entries from organisations around the world and the competition is extremely tough. Even though RoSPA is unable to host a physical awards ceremony this year, Neil will still be applauded at a virtual celebration on Thursday 3 September at 1pm which will be hosted by broadcaster and journalist Ed James, RoSPA President, Baroness Jolly, and RoSPA Chief Executive, Errol Taylor.