What’s new this year?
The following is a summary of the changes being made this year. For full details see the relevant section below.
- Virtual interview to some random selected applicants
- New eligibility criteria
What are the Sword and Globe of Honour awards?
These awards celebrate the best of the best in health, safety and environmental management, giving great companies the recognition that they deserve.
Each year, those that have achieved a five-star result in one of the following audits are invited to apply:
- Five Star Occupational Health and Safety Audit
- Five Star Environmental Audit
- Five Star Integrated Health, Safety and Environmental Audit
- Combined Audit.
With a direct link to the Five Star Audit report, these awards require a detailed and objective evaluation of occupational health, safety and environmental management system(s) and associated arrangements.
What is the Shield of Honour award?
Newly introduced in 2023, the Shield of Honour award is aimed to recognise excellence in wellbeing. To be eligible for the Shield of Honour, applicants must have achieved five-stars in one of the following audits:
- Five Star Wellbeing Audit
- Five Star Wellbeing Supplementary Audit.
Getting the five-star audit is just the start though, like the Sword and Globe awards, applicants need to demonstrate to an independent adjudication panel that they have a proven track record and culture of best practice for excellence in wellbeing, that runs throughout the organisation, from the shop floor to the boardroom.
New for 2025, a sample of applicants will be randomly selected to validate the responses given on their application in a virtual interview. This selection will be made following the application submission deadline on the 23 September 2025 and the selected applicants will be notified with a MS Teams placeholder invite for the week beginning on the 29 September 2025.
The health, safety and wellbeing event of the year
The Sword, Globe and Shield of Honour awards will culminate in the health, safety, wellbeing and environmental event of the year at the prestigious Drapers’ Hall in London on 28 November 2025. The ceremony will bring together hundreds of like-minded international leaders across sectors.
The cost of the luncheon options are as follows:
Sword, Globe and Shield of Honour Luncheon individual ticket ₹44,000
Sword, Globe and Shield of Honour Luncheon package ₹185,000
Additional Awards
For 2025, we are running 2 new award types, with the winners announced at the Sword, Globe and Shield of Honour Luncheon on the 28 November 2025.
Innovation and Development Award
Organisations who apply for the Sword and/or Globe and/or Shield of Honour have the option to answer two further questions about an innovative project that they have adopted, describing the impact this innovation had across the business.
The questions will be marked by a panel and shortlisted organisations will be put forward to be awarded at the luncheon event in November 2025. Please note that organisations wanting to be considered for this new award are agreeing to the possibility of a self-funded site visit by a British Safety Council representative to validate the application.
More information about the Innovation and Development award can be found on the FAQ’s page
Sector Award
In 2024 will be Sector Awards. Sector Awards will recognise overall 'best in class' submissions by industry sector under the 3 categories: health & safety, environmental management and wellbeing. These awards do not require a separate submission. This is a great way to stand out amongst peers and encourages best practice. Sector Award categories are:
- Construction and property activities
- Consultancy and advisory
- Education
- Financial, IT, legal, scientific and technical services, media
- Health and social care
- Leisure, sports clubs, hospitality and catering
- Local government, defence and public services
- Manufacturing
- Not for profit
- Oil, gas, mining and quarrying
- Onshore major hazard
- Power and utilities
- Transportation, distribution and storage
- Wholesale and retail services.
New trophies
We are conscious that organisations are recognised for winning the Sword, Globe or Shield of Honour but it is individuals who make this happen. For 2025, in recognition of this, we will again have staff trophies (designed to sit on someone’s desk) available to purchase. These individual trophies must be purchased at the same time as a main, full-size trophy. Full details will be available shortly.
Why apply?
Successful Sword, Globe and Shield applicants demonstrate that they are among the 'best of the best' through the submission of a written application and achieving their Five Star audit. The awards give winners the opportunity to:
- Promote their success with the winners' trophy, logo, certificate and press coverage
- Add this achievement to tenders and corporate literature
- Showcase your commitment to excellent health, safety, wellbeing and environmental management standards
- Motivate their workforce to strive for higher standards
- Benchmark yourself against others in your field.
How to apply?
India clients will initially be contacted by their account manager, who will deal with any queries and organise for our Indian operations team to take payment and set up application licenses. Once payment has been made you will receive a link to access the application form via the Learning Zone.
If you have any queries or would like more information, please contact: [email protected]
Key dates
| Aug 2025 | Finalise questions |
| Aug 2025 | Moodle platform set up |
| Aug 2025 | Web pages live |
| Aug 2025 | Launch schemes |
| 01 Sep 2025 | Application webinar |
| 22 Sep 2025 | Application submission deadline for audits completed by 31/7/2024 |
| 23 Sep 2025 | Submission allocated to adjudicators for marking |
| 06 Oct 2025 | Adjudicator deadline application grading |
| Week of 29 Sep 2025 | Interviews |
| 16 Oct 2025 | Results emailed to applicants |
| 17 Oct 2025 | Winners list published |
| Week of 20 Oct 2025 | Interview top scorer |
| 24 Oct 2025 | Result enquiry deadline |
| 03 Nov 2025 | Trophy and plaque orders deadline |
| 28 Nov 2025 | Sword, Globe and Shield of Honour Luncheon, Drapers Hall, London |
Supporting Resources
- Watch our video on how to allocate licences
- Read the 2024 Chief Adjudicator's reports
- View the 2024 winners list
- FAQs
Eligibility
Application process and results
The written applications are marked by an independent panel of adjudicators appointed, trained and monitored by British Safety Council. The adjudicators are all senior level health, safety, wellbeing and environmental practitioners. A rigorous standardisation process ensures that each adjudicator applies the marking scheme in exactly the same way so that all applications are marked consistently to the same standard.
Click here to view the full criteria for the adjudication process and results.
Application questions and marking criteria
Case studies/mentoring
From 2024, we are looking to offer case studies and/or mentoring services to Sword, Globe and Shield of Honour applicants. To progress this, we are keen to hear from winning organisations that would be willing to take part in sharing how they achieved their success in the awards. Full details need to be worked out but this maybe via webinars, videos etc. An additional unmarked question has been added to the award application system in this regard.
Reports and winners list from 2024
Reports and winners list from 2023
Reports and winners list from 2022
FAQs
To understand the scheme better, you might find it useful to read our frequently asked questions - complied for you here