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Quick thinking Sellafield Ltd staff receive life saving awards
Five Sellafield Ltd employees whose prompt action saved a colleague’s life have received special awards from the company.
When the colleague collapsed during a lunch break, the five came to his rescue by quickly applying Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and alerting the site’s emergency services.
The injured worker was taken to hospital but is now recovering at home with his family.
And Sellafield Ltd paid tribute to the five – Paul Armstrong (from Waberthwaite), Stephen Bethwaite (from Whitehaven), Paul Cockbain (from St Bees), David Herbert (from Workington) and Kenny Hill (from Arlecdon) – by making them the first ever recipients of the “Sellafield Life Saver Award”.
They were handed their awards by Kliss McNeel, NMP Executive Director of Environmental Health, Safety and Quality, at Sellafield Ltd’s annual Business Excellence Awards ceremony recently.
Over 300 guests attended the Business Excellence Awards, where the main speaker was double Olympic gold medalist James Cracknell OBE.
Ms McNeel told them: “One member of our Sellafield team is alive today because of these five folks.
“In March of this year, David Herbert and a co-worker were sitting down to lunch at Calder Hall. David heard a strange noise and looked at his co-worker. He saw the completely pale man clutch his chest and slump over in his chair.
“David rushed around and caught him just in time to help him to the floor and put him in the recovery position. At that point, Paul Cockbain arrived in the room and the two quickly checked their co-worker and realised he wasn’t breathing and had no heartbeat. They immediately started CPR.
“Hearing the commotion, Kenny Hill came forward to assist. When he realised what was happening, he called the site fire services and rounded up additional help from the building. Stephen Bethwaite and Paul Armstrong quickly came to help and continued the CPR.
“Fire services and members of the site medical department arrived and relieved the men. The co-worker was taken to hospital. Recovering later, physically and emotionally drained, the five were told by the site doctor that their efforts had saved a life.”
Dr Ian Hudson, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Head of Programme for Sellafield, helped present the awards and added: “I’m very happy to be here today. I can see lots of enthusiasm and a lot of people throughout the organisation engaged in improvements. That’s something we can all be proud of.
“There’s a real strong sense of pride and community, a family attitude that exists on the site, and these awards are a good reflection on a well trained and committed workforce who look out for each other.”
Two other Sellafield site workers also received awards for their quick thinking and first aid support to an injured colleague.
Sellafield Ltd employee Sharon Reynolds and Mark Osborne, a sub-contractor with Johnson Controls on site, provided comfort and practical help to an employee who had been seriously injured in an incident involving a mobile lift platform.
Both received the inaugural “Sellafield First Responders Award” from Ms McNeel.
