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News release

13 October 2010 - NR 42/10

Ireland honours its safety and health champion for 2010

A construction expert’s four decades of dedication to health and safety were honoured yesterday (12 October) when Ireland announced it’s annual Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Person of the Year.

Peter McCabe – a construction safety and manpower specialist and part-time lecturer at Trinity College Dublin – was named the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) Ireland Branch’s 2010 winner.

He was presented the award by Minister for Labour Affairs, Dara Calleary, at Dublin’s Merrion Hotel. Minister Calleary paid tribute to the work he has done in equipping people with knowledge of how to stay safe in the workplace as well as his guidance on policy on the issue.

Mr McCabe said: “I’m really honoured and surprised to be named IOSH’s occupational safety and health person of the year in Ireland. And it’s fantastic to be introduced by the Minister.

“The achievements and initiatives have all been down to a lot of people and I think we can say that the working lives of people in the construction industry, and wider, are now safer and healthier as a result.”

As a chartered member of IOSH who has dedicated his career to reducing the number of workplace injuries and fatalities, Peter has, and still does travel overseas to speak at conferences and take part in study visits.

“The UK and Ireland have relatively low fatality rates compared with a lot of Europe, but our targets will always be to get towards zero. The rates have come down by more than 100 per cent over the last few years but, in reality, even one death is too many,” Mr McCabe added.

IOSH Ireland Chair, Declan Gibney, said: “Peter has made a significant contribution to the development of occupational safety standards in Ireland over many years, particularly in the construction sector through his work with the CIF and in the Construction Safety Partnership.

“This award signifies the appreciation of our professional body to Peter for his efforts and his commitment to occupational safety in Ireland.”

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Notes for editors:

IOSH is the Chartered body for health and safety professionals. With more than 40,000 members in 85 countries, we’re the world’s biggest professional health and safety organisation.

We set standards, and support, develop and connect our members with resources, guidance, events and training. We’re the voice of the profession, and campaign on issues that affect millions of working people.

IOSH was founded in 1945 and is a registered charity with international NGO status.