Young drone pilot from Sleaford wins national health and safety award

Pictured (from left) TV presenter Gabby Logan, Sophie Harwood, of Waldeck, and Lynda Armstrong, chairman of the Board of Trustees at the British Safety Council.

Sophie Harwood, 21, of the technical and risk management consultancy Waldeck, was named Young Health and Safety Champion of the Year at the 2017 British Safety Council International Safety Awards.

The event was hosted by sports broadcaster Gabby Logan and held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel last Friday.

Sophie works for Waldeck, which has its head office in Sleaford, as an unmanned aerial vehicle specialist and junior building information modelling technician.

Since joining the business in 2014, she has shown a keen interest in health and safety – going on to become Sleaford’s champion on Waldeck’s Health and Safety First Committee and implementing a number of initiatives across the business.

Sophie said: “As a young girl from a small village just outside Sleaford, I feel extremely lucky to have had such an amazing opportunity, to not only work for Waldeck on a number of exciting projects, working with top clients such as EDF, but also being recognised internationally as the Young Health and Safety Champion of the Year for 2017, I am absolutely speechless.”