Sri Lanka’s safest workplaces to receive National Safety Awards today

The presentation of the prestigious National Safety Awards to recognise and reward the safest workplaces in the country will be held at a glittering event attended by leading corporate top management, at which Gamini Lokuge, Minister of Labour Relations and Productivity Improvement will be the Chief Guest.  

Winning at the National Safety Awards has become the benchmark of an accident free workplace, leading to improved organisational and national productivity.  National Safety Awards was evolved by AVIVA NDB Insurance to encourage accident-free workplaces and enhance safety standards in the country. The award is presented in collaboration with two state organisations, the Department of Labour and the Employees Trust Fund Board.  

“The objective of presenting the award is to make all employers realise the importance of creating a safe working environment not only to safeguard employees, but also to appreciate that safety in the workplace results in improved productivity and profitability which makes good business sense and yields significant economic benefits to the nation” commented Amal Perera, AGM, Marketing of AVIVA NDB.

Applicants to the award were required to fill in a comprehensive questionnaire which was then carefully validated by a team of top safety professionals who conducted site visits.  Participants gain a great deal on evaluating the safety measures in their workplace because they are required to submit documents related to safety systems in place,  injury records, investigations of accidents, fire protection and other methods of ensuring safety for employees.  

All island awards are presented to large scale (over 250 employees), medium scale (125-249 employees) and small scale (25-124 employees) organisations.  In addition sector awards are awarded to organisations engaged in plantation, apparel & allied industries, manufacturing & processing and engineering services. Altogether 21 awards are scheduled to be presented at today’s event.  

National Safety Awards was launched in 1994 and is held every 2 years, sponsored by the Company as a part of its Corporate Responsibility endeavours.   The Company has set up a multi-million trust fund to ensure the continuity of the award.  

Aviva is the world’s sixth-largest insurance group, serving over 53 million customers across Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific. Aviva’s main business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £45.1 billion and funds under management of £379 billion as at 31 December 2009. Aviva is the largest insurance services provider in the UK and one of the leading providers of life and pension products in Europe.   NDB Group is one of the largest financial conglomerates in Sri Lanka, operating regionally in Maldives and Bangladesh. The Group offers project finance, corporate banking, SME lending, retail banking, investment banking, stock broking, wealth management and insurance solutions under one roof. Today, NDB bank, the commercial banking arm of the NDB Group is the highest capitalised Sri Lankan commercial bank.