Two Year 1 pupils from Christ The King Catholic Primary School in Leeds are celebrating after taking top honours in a poster competition run by contractor ISG as part of its £3 million project to build the 'Safety Central' educational resource for West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service. Ciara Sugden and Freya Woodward-Chapman wowed the judges with their colourful and bold poster designs, which will now be displayed across a number of ISG sites to help reinforce the contractor’s commitment to health & safety.

Ciara Sugden (left) and Freya Woodward-Chapman show off their winning designs with Mick Quealy, ISG’s health & safety advisor

After watching an educational DVD highlighting the very real dangers posed by building sites, the pupils got the chance to have a guided tour of ongoing work at Safety Central, the Fire Service’s regional centre of excellence for safety awareness and education. ISG’s health & safety advisor, Mick Quealy was on hand to explain why children should never play on building sites, highlighting a range of hazards that could result in serious injury or death to anyone tempted to trespass.

Mick Quealy commented: “We received some really excellent poster designs from the children and in the end we simply couldn’t award a prize to just one entry. Our competition is just one way that as a business we look to engage and educate children to the hazards of building sites. The lure of a prize and seeing their poster designs actually displayed across our developments works wonderfully well to help focus children’s minds on the very serious issue of why building sites are never a suitable place to play.”

Ciara and Freya were presented with a framed copy of their winning entries, as well as a gift voucher and an ISG goody bag at a ceremony in front of their classmates. The project to create Safety Central is on track for completion by May 2009, when the new facility will play an integral role in West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service’s commitment to raise community fire safety awareness.

Email: nick.hann@isgplc.com