Wakefield Council win Outstanding environmental health team award at CTSI/CIEH Conference

The Environmental Health Commercial Services Team at Wakefield Council has been crowned Outstanding environmental health team of the year by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH).

The CIEH Outstanding environmental health team award recognises CIEH members who have combined their diverse talents and perspectives to foster creativity, overcome complex challenges and achieve shared goals.

The West Yorkshire team, comprising of 12 environmental health and associated professionals, gained the recognition from their exceptional contributions to four major projects delivered between May 2021 and April 2024 which made a demonstrable improvement to public health, wellbeing and sustainability.

The four projects were:

• AllergyPAL, a free interactive online Precautionary Allergen Labelling (PAL) training tool for small and medium sized businesses designed by Wakefield Council. The tool offers a diverse range of real-life operational scenarios that reflect retail and hospitality business to practice using PAL.
• Parent and Toddler First Aid sessions that offer great potential for reducing inequalities by making contact and supporting parents in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.
• Changing the date coding of milk from ‘Use-By’ to’ Best-Before’ with Arla Foods Ltd and Morrisons Supermarkets, the team led the way in delivering innovative solutions to tackle food waste and encourage sustainability, whilst maintaining food safety.
• Collaborating with Primary Authority Partner, Next Distribution Ltd to improve due diligence checks and compliance systems within their contract catering facilities to strengthen their efforts in keeping employees safe.

The winning team, chosen by a judging panel of CIEH Board members and leading academics, was announced during a gala dinner attended by over 300 people at The Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds on 19 June.

Mark Elliott, CIEH President and award judge said:

“We were very impressed by the Wakefield Council Environmental Health Commercial Services Team's exceptional contributions through their four submitted projects, significantly impacting public health, well-being, and sustainability.

“It’s vitally important to celebrate the achievements and shout about the great things happening in the environmental health profession right now. We know our members play a critical role in keeping the public safe and all the entrants are shining examples of the fantastic work being undertaken by un-sung heroes every day.

“We would like to thank all organisations who took the time to enter the awards, they made the judging process a tough but rewarding experience.”

Thank you to our award sponsor, Osborne Richardson, and our esteemed judges: Zena Lynch, Associate Professor Environmental Health, University of Birmingham; Graeme Mitchell, Programme Leader Environmental Health, Liverpool John Moores University; Kathryn Preece, Head of Local Authority Unit, Office for Product Safety and Standards; and Mark Elliott, CIEH President.