A campaign in Great Britain warning trades people about the dangers of asbestos has won an international award. The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) "hidden killer" campaign came top in the health category of the European Excellence Awards, held in Vienna, honoring outstanding achievements in public relations.
Approximately 20 trades people a week die in the United Kingdom from asbestos-related diseases and the aim of the campaign, launched in autumn 2008, was to help prevent another generation of plumbers, plasterers, electricians and joiners having their lives cut short.
HSE worked with communications agency MS&L to devise the public relations campaign using a football (soccer) analogy to raise awareness of the numbers of people still dying from asbestos exposure, bringing ex-England player and former plasterer, Ian Wright, on board to spearhead the campaign.
The launch was covered by broadcast, print and online media, including the flagship BBC Radio 4 Today program and GMTV. By the end of the campaign, HSE had seen a 100% increase in calls to Infoline and a six-fold increase in page requests on the campaign microsite.
Steve Coldrick, HSE's asbestos program director, noted, "Asbestos remains Britain's biggest workplace killer, but with the perception that it is largely a risk of the past we needed a hard-hitting PR campaign to capture the imagination of tradesmen, particularly young ones. Using Ian Wright, a former tradesman, ticked all the boxes for us and delivered great results. "We're pleased our approach has been recognized and commended by experts in the communications industry. The award is a testament to the good working relationship between HSE's communications and asbestos program teams and MSL."
The European Excellence Award is one of a number of accolades for HSE's "Hidden Killer" campaign. It was highly commended at the PR Week Awards in October and shortlisted for a PRCA Award in November. The print advertisements won an ANNA "ad of the week" award (Awards for National Newspaper Advertising) and were nominated for "ad of the year" under the same scheme. (workersxzcompxzkit)
The second phase of the campaign has just ended with early indications of success. More than 4,000 calls were made to Infoline during November and there were around 200 items of regional media coverage.
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