Power Generation Safety Challenge 2007

There was a great turnout at this year's Safety Challenge which was held in Portlaoise on November 28th with all 13 power stations and Fisheries Conservation fielding teams, with a high level of safety skills again on display. This Annual Safety Challenge is used as an opportunity for learning and increasing safety knowledge, putting some of our safety skills into practice and also raising safety awareness. Building on the success of last year's event, the practical safety skill component was further increased this year The practical components in this year's Safety Challenge, which were targeted at raising awareness on some of the key safety issues facing us, consisted of tasks in

• Manual Handling
• Trips, Slips and Falls
• Vehicle Safety and Road Safety
• Electrical Safety
• Risk Assessments
• Plant Modification
• DuPont Style Auditing
• First Aid

The second component of the challenge was a table quiz in which all teams participated. Again the standard was high with only a couple of points separating the top teams.

The overall winners on the day and winners of the category award for First Aid were the West Offaly Power team of Billy Duffy, Brian Flynn, Rory Curley and Joe Daly. Second place and the category prize for the electrical switching task was taken by the Lough Ree Power team of Seamus Finn, Tom Walsh, Kevin Barrett and John Sorohan.

Third place and the category award for the Job Request challenge went to the Aghada team of Ciaran Fitzgerald, Michael O'Brien, Nigel Laffan and Pat Curtin. The Ardnacrusha team of Senan Colleran, Senan McEvoy, Thomas Droney and Pat Hogan were the category winners for the 'mixed bag' challenge and Poolbeg with team members Stephen Edwards, Brendan Mackey, Denis Duff, and Tom Browne were the winners for Manual Handling.

Prizes for the overall winners were presented at the awards dinner by Chief Executive, Padraig McManus, while the category awards were presented by Executive Director of Power Generation, Pat O'Doherty. After dinner entertainment was provided by Today FM presenter Matt Cooper.

Feedback from the day was very positive and the planning for next year's event is already started.