A WEST Cumbrian safety worker has beaten off competition from 100,000 people to be named the nation's best health and safety officer.

Helen Edwards, lead safety representative at Sellafield's operations division, was given the Health and Safety Representative Award at the Trades Union Congress Awards.

She received the accolade for her work in keeping Europe's most complex nuclear site safe.

The 51-year-old, of Arlecdon, said: "There are over 100,000 union health and safety representatives in the UK so to be named the best is a great honour.

"I am delighted to accept the award which not only recognises my work but also that of the other 250 voluntary safety reps on site who are the most proactive, highly educated and well equipped safety reps in the country.

"Juggling a busy day job as well as the demands of a safety rep role can be challenging, but our passion for making sure colleagues, the site and the local community are safe for generations to come, makes it all worthwhile."

The safety reps play an important role in the development and maintenance of a healthy safety culture at Sellafield.

They work hand-in-hand with the company's management team to address concerns or potential hazards in the workplace in order to prevent accidents or injuries.

Euan Hutton, director of environment, health, safety and quality at Sellafield Ltd, added: "Safety is our number one priority.

"It is fundamental that every single one of our 11,000 employees and thousands more contractors go home safe every day.

"I'm proud to have people like Helen leading the way, ensuring the protection of our workforce and the community continues to be at the heart of everything we do.

"We recognise that our union health and safety reps play a huge role in keeping the site and the Workforce safe today, tomorrow and in the future, and for that we thank them."

The TUC awards recognise the outstanding achievement of union reps in representing workers, learning at work, union organising and improving health and safety conditions in the workplace.

It represents more than 5.8 million workers in 51 unions.

Globally they are part of a union family with 180 million members in more than 160 countries.