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For five years, the “In-Focus! Safe Workplaces for All” photo contest has inspired workers to focus on safety and has traditionally served as an entertaining way to document workplace safety. It challenged anyone with a passion for photography to capture an image of workplace safety and share it with the NIH community.

Goals of the contest are to further efforts to reduce workplace injuries and illnesses and educate and underscore the importance of safety and achieve community involvement by relying on talent, imagination and creativity to raise awareness of workplace safety and health. The photos are used in the production of numerous DOHS publications.

The final selection of winning photographs was determined by a panel of NIH professionals that include graphic design specialists from the Medical Arts Branch and the Managing Editor of the NIH Catalyst.

Judges selected winners based on the following criteria:

• Originality
• Creativity
• Quality of photograph
• Inclusion of a worker, employer, or workplace imagery
• Clarity of safety and health message
• Suitability for use in NIH, ORS, DOHS publications and website

An award ceremony was held for the contest winners on April 13, 2016 during the quarterly meeting of the IC Safety and Health Chairperson’s Committee. This year, even with a record number of entries, there was a tie for first place between two very different photographs, both emphasizing workplace safety: “Hazmat” and “Find the Difference.” 

ORF/DEP/WRRB

2nd Place – “Carpenter Shop” Submitted by Bryan Kercher, Engineering Technician, ORF, Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML), Hamilton, MT

3rd Place – “Laser Microscope” Submitted by Dale Lewis PhD, Staff Scientist, NCI/CCR