On Tuesday 10th July, Norfolk training company, the Red Cat Partnership, travelled to London to be honoured in the House of Commons by the President and Chair of the Board of Governors of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH).
Husband and wife team, Sarah Daniels and Richard Mills, who established The Red Cat Partnership in April 1999, made the trip to receive the awards for CIEH Health & Safety Training Centre Of The Year, as well as CIEH Trainer of the Year, for their delivery of the CIEH Level 4 Award in Health & Safety in the Workplace. They were joined by Sarah Moss, one of their course delegates, who is Branch Office Administrator for the Samaritans in Norwich. Sarah beat nearly 2000 other candidates who took the course in 2011 to be awarded Highest Scoring Student of the Year, with an impressive result of 95%.
This is the second consecutive year that The Red Cat Partnership has been awarded these highly prestigious honours from the CIEH, which is the professional voice for environmental health; setting standards, accrediting courses and establishing qualifications for the education of members and other environmental health practitioners. In addition, the CIEH gives information, evidence and policy advice in the public and private sectors, as well as providing qualifications for over 50 certification training programmes, hosting events and supplying support materials on topics relevant to health, wellbeing and safety, to develop workplace skills and best practice.
The Red Cat Partnership is based in central Norwich and offers a wide range of courses and expert consultancy in health & safety and food safety compliance. They are one of over 6,000 training centres for the CIEH, which enforces the highest standards from all of their registered centres, trainers and staff, as well as presenting clear guidance on what to expect from trainers and training centres and outlining procedures for candidate enquiries.
The CIEH awards aim to recognise the trainer and training centre which has supported the delegate who achieves the highest exam score for their Level 4 Award in Health & Safety in the Workplace, worldwide. The awards are results based and companies cannot nominate themselves or others. Instead the awards are judged by the CIEH based on exam results and course delivery.
The course itself is delivered over five days and is designed for owners, senior management and those in a supervisory role of small to medium sized businesses, and for those who have a hand in higher level management of larger businesses, such as hotel managers or residential care home managers. It aims to equip delegates in applying the basics of an appropriate management cycle to their business, and to have a more detailed understanding of key Health and Safety issues, such as hazard areas. Assessment is by a formal written exam, and a controlled assignment, in the form of a case study of the delegate’s own business, which is also carried out under exam conditions.
Richard Mills, Director of The Red Cat Partnership, said: “We work very hard to use a wide variety of activities and case studies to ensure the five day course is interesting and stimulating, as well as an effective learning environment. The course itself is equivalent to degree-level studies and requires a great deal of work, so it is important that our delegates are passionate and enthusiastic about their learning experience.”
Sarah Daniels, Director of The Red Cat Partnership, said: “We are obviously over the moon to have been honoured by the CIEH for the second consecutive year. It is particularly rewarding that these awards are based on the success of our delegates, which obviously speaks volumes and there is no better testament to the successful delivery of any course than when our delegates achieve outstanding results. We would like to congratulate Sarah for doing so fantastically well and to thank her for her passion and enthusiasm.”
Sarah Moss, Branch Office Administrator for the Samaritans, said: “The course was extremely interesting and informative – I really enjoyed the five days with Sarah and Richard and felt I learnt a great deal. The course was invaluable in introducing me to the legislation underpinning health and safety, as well as helping me to identify and understand workplace hazards and how to assess and reduce risk. The course also helped me to understand how to manage health and safety in the workplace, so that by the end of the course I felt well-equipped to go on and apply what I had learnt in a practical way, in my role with the Samaritans.”
Heather Griffin, Deputy Director for the Samaritans, said: “Achieving her CIEH Level 4 Award in Health & Safety in the Workplace has been invaluable for Sarah in her role with us here at the Samaritans. For her to be honoured with this award, therefore, really is the icing on the cake and we would like to thank Sarah and Richard at The Red Cat Partnership for supporting Sarah in achieving such a great result.”
For details of the next course contact the RedCat Team on 01603 502136
