A Glamour Evening

MC Samantha Hayes, star of TV3, set the tone for health and safety’s night of glamour at the NZ Workplace Health & Safety Awards gala dinner on 30 May.

“You’re all a bunch of posers,” she told the 420+ guests, noting that the photographer had reported no difficulty in persuading dozens of people to look his way during the pre-dinner drinks.

The evening of celebration flowed smoothly, interrupted from time to time by those unscripted moments that make each awards dinner special. This year’s unscheduled cameos included a spine-tingling haka from Buck Shelford, Tawera Nikau and Wiremu Edmonds in support of Refining NZ’s win, and the colourful and overjoyed group connected with the winning Puataunofo “Come Home Safely” initiative, who all assembled up front to support their speaker.

Lifetime achiever Keith Stewart spoke briefly after accepting his award and left a powerful message: “Health and safety’s a great thing to be in. Keep the passion and never give up.”

One Australian guest noted afterwards that the awards dinner was the best of several he had attended around the world, being a well run operation which nevertheless provided ample opportunity for people to be themselves.

As organisers of the awards and the dinner, Thomson Reuters figures that’s just how people like it.

Click the link to Read the complete list of award winners for 2012.