Sarah Ryan wins Personal Safety Champion Award

Sarah Ryan with Jacqui Hames, former presenter of Crime Watch

At a moving and inspirational ceremony held in London, Sarah Ryan, 49, from Rochdale, won a Suzy Lamplugh National Personal Safety Award, claiming the prize of PeopleSafe Personal Safety Champion Award. She beat off stiff competition from two other finalists.

Sarah, a community Manager at Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition, won the award because she recognised the need for and implemented a project to improve the safety of Danone employees.

Sarah said: “I am delighted to win this award, I just wanted to help others be safe when lone working. Danone is a very responsible employer, aware that personal safety makes sense both financially and morally, and they have supported me all the way. And best of all we have made sure that the training we do with our employees is great fun – as well as informative.”

Danone supported Sarah throughout the project, which has seen the implementation of lone worker devices and the roll-out of a new lone working policy. Sarah was pivotal in driving engagement among the wider team in the project, involving as many as possible people to ensure its success.

Rachel Griffin, Director of Suzy Lamplugh Trust, said: “The awards recognise the hard work of various individuals and agencies that promote and ensure personal safety. This year, we have been overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of the projects nominated.

"We are thrilled to honour Sarah Ryan with the PeopleSafe Personal Safety Champion Award. Her enthusiasm, commitment, and hard work to make lone working at Danone safer is commendable.”

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust National Personal Safety Awards, now in their eighth year, recognise accomplishment in personal safety and celebrate people or groups who are committed to personal safety in the workplace, in communities, in universities or schools, and have promoted personal safety in an exceptional way.

The Personal Safety Champion award recognised the individual who best facilitated the improvement of safety for employees in the workplace, especially for those who work alone.

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust was set up in memory of a 25-year-old estate agent who disappeared in 1986 after she went to meet an unknown client. She was presumed murdered and legally declared dead seven years later. Her parents set up the trust to raise awareness of the dangers and risks people can face in society.