Division of Risk Management

Interagency Advisory Council on Loss Prevention

The purpose of the Safety Awareness Awards is to promote and manage safety/loss reduction issues, which are a continuing challenge to any agency. When a work area takes a positive effort to control, manage, and promote this sensitive issue with positive results, recognition is essential for continued participation. These awards do not just affect an individual within a department, but affect all employees, who were involved in the process. External recognition is uniquely important, and although there is no monetary value to these awards, they definitely relate to the statewide promotion of safety/loss reduction and significantly improve employee morale and productivity.

The IAC recently changed the safety awards and the criteria for issuing the awards.  Previously, the safety awards were in various categories and were selected by a panel of judges.  The categories included Safety Program of the Year; Most Creative Safety Campaign; Best Safety Training Program; and Best Safety Awareness Event.  The previous awards were based on a fiscal year period; however, the new criteria are based upon a January 1 to December 31 time period.  Because the categories favored agencies and universities that had more resources than others, the IAC changed their selection criteria and award structure to a three tiered system based on the Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals.  The different levels of awards are based on agency responses to an annual safety program evaluation that is derived from risk management best practices and scored by the Risk Services Section within the Division of Risk Management.  The survey will be sent out in February of each year and the awards will be presented at the May IAC meeting.