THEY’RE usually commended for saving the lives of others – but now a North Yorkshire emergency service is to be honoured for the way it protects its own staff.

For the third year in a row, North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service (NYFRS) has claimed an occupational health and safety award from an organisation which aims to cut the number of accidents and deaths in the workplace.

It is one of three such bodies in the emergency services sector to be handed a Major Award by RoSPA, and fire chiefs will find out next week whether they claimed top spot in this category at a Birmingham ceremony.

Judges have praised the service for its “commitment to protecting the health and well-being of its employees and others” and picked out its “dedication to improving performance” as one of the keys to its accolade.

“The awards are highly regarded across the private and public sectors and not just within the fire and rescue service,” said chief fire officer Nigel Hutchinson.

“The fact that this is the third successive year we have gained one of RoSPA’s prestigious awards is a testament to the hard work of all those involved in securing this impressive result and I congratulate them all.”

As well as encouraging organisations to reduce the number of work accidents and sickness levels, the RoSPA Awards are also aimed at ensuring they have good health and safety management systems in place. In both 2007 and 2008, the service claimed the society’s Gold Award in its sector.

Next week, three days of ceremonies are being held between Tuesday and Thursday to reward this year’s highest achievers..

“It is hard work gathering all the information necessary to achieve the award, so the health and safety team has worked with many other sections within the service to achieve this,” said station manager Jane Proud, the service’s health and safety officer.

“I must thank our staff who have embraced the culture we are trying to foster, aiming to reduce numbers of both personal and vehicle accidents.

“We are delighted to be recognised as being in the top three for occupational health and safety in the emergency services sector, and we are now eagerly awaiting the ceremony to find out what our exact position is.

“Whether we are first, second or third, this is still a truly great achievement.”