Published:
SafeGuarding Services have won two awards for their efforts during the Covid-19 crisis from The Higher Education Business Continuity Network (HEBCoN) – it was announced last week.
The awards were for the Contribution to the Higher Education Sector and Major Incident Management
The first award for incident management recognised the work the team have done since the start of the COVID-19 crisis - in particular for the dedication and tenacity of Lorraine Russell (Health & Safety Manager) and Paul Cyphus (Biological Safety Officer), supported by the wider SafeGuarding Team. They were applauded for their outstanding work in support of the student and staff community and their work with the Health Protection Scotland task force.
The second award for Contribution to the Higher Eduction Sector was awarded to Ross Ferguson, SafeGuarding & Resilience Manager. Ross has recently been appointed as a member of the HEBCoN Executive Group and immediately delivered added value to the organisation by devising a knowledge exchange programme to collate and share best practice amongst member institutions. This innovative solution has been readily adopted by HEBCoN and will undoubtedly lead to improved performance and collaboration in the UK HE Sector.
Principal and Vice Chancellor Richard A Williams said: “It’s fantastic that our Safeguarding team have been recognised for their efforts, especially in these extreme times. The team provide 24/7 support to the whole University community. Their professionalism, excellence of care and sector-leading achievements are underscored by these two prestigious external awards from The Higher Education Business Continuity Network.”
HEBCoN is an organisation encompassing all of the Higher Eduction institutions in the UK, the network consists of university professionals involved with major incident management and business continuity. They facilitate these awards for excellence every year.
It’s been a successful six months for the team as they also won the 'In House Security Team of the Year category' at the Security & Fire Excellence Awards in November last year.
These awards put SafeGuarding Services and Heriot-Watt University as leaders in Safeguarding in Higher Education.
More information on the awards here:- https://www.hebcon.org/awards-2020/
Susan Kerr
Media Relations Officer
E: susan.kerr@hw.ac.uk