Mover and maker couple to win safety award

Safe Suzie - the joint brainchild of DHL Supply Chain and Don-Bur – topped the innovation category at the recent IOSH and SHP awards in London. The product was designed as part of DHL's accident reduction strategy to prevent injury to lorry drivers. It works by removing any need to climb up on to the catwalk behind a tractor unit to couple up the air and electrical lines. DHL's safety and health executive director for UK and Ireland, Russell Clark, said: "For the transport industry, getting drivers off the catwalk makes it a safer environment, which is obviously a fantastic thing as it helps to avoid a lot of accidents. We are delighted to have worked with Don-Bur to come up with this initiative." DHL Supply Chain is now specifying the Safe Suzie as standard on dry freight trailers, and is working with Don-Bur to develop further versions for tankers and temperature-controlled vehicles. Don-Bur's managing director David Burton said: "We are absolutely delighted to have won the award... We believe that this award entry, brought jointly between DHL and Don-Bur, has introduced real innovation to the industry, allowing coupling at ground level." Don-Bur's lost time injury rate has fallen 40% year on year, and the addition of the Safe Suzie could reduce it by a further 30%. Rob Strange, IOSH Chief Executive, said: "It is not every day that you get a brainwave like the Safe Suzie, so it is right that we pay tribute to the time, effort and eureka thinking that has gone into this. "Innovations like these play an integral role in improving the reputation of safety and health, as they show it as forward-thinking and helpful. DHL and Don-Bur are showing that it is an essential and enabling, rather than a restrictive part of working life." Other contenders for this award included a rain cover for concrete mixer hoppers on trucks by Alliance Construction Materials, an automated pouring ladle for molten metal by Balfour Beatty Rail and a cab roof harness from Carrier Transicold.