The award was presented at Europe's largest specialist congress for occupational health and safety and an associated trade fair, A + A 2011, on October 18, 2011 in Düsseldorf.

For WICONA, managing directors Arnd Brinkmann and Laurenz Guther, managers of the Gerstungen warehouse and logistics location, accepted the award in the "Process Solutions" category. This is based on intensive, continuous and consistent commitment to create, maintain and sustainably promote the specific awareness of health and safety at work at the Gerstungen site. “Safety has top priority” is the motto that can be seen everywhere in the Thuringian plant of Hydro Building Systems. This works above all with clear responsibilities, collegial feedback and defined procedures for possible emergencies. Laurenz Guther is therefore right to be pleased with "the honor of this team effort, in which everyone works in barley and therefore also has their share." of criteria such as effectiveness, economy, innovation and transferability into everyday business life.

The German Occupational Safety Award 2011 was awarded by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS), the State Committee for Occupational Safety and Safety Technology (LASI) and the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV).

The laudation from the competition initiators stated, among other things: "Occupational health and safety and prevention work particularly well when everyone pulls together in companies. Many of the companies that applied for the German Occupational Safety Award 2011 had this experience. Commitment to occupational safety is not easy to prescribe. If, on the other hand, managers succeed in creating a culture of motivation and personal responsibility, occupational health and safety becomes a common cause of all employees. ”

For WICONA and the Gerstungen site, this award is not the first of its kind. Likewise this year, Laurenz Guther's team already received the "Thuringian Occupational Safety Award" for the occupational safety management system practiced on site.

"We are very proud of this new award," explains Managing Director Arnd Brinkmann, "because it not only reflects the achievements that are achieved in equipment with the highest intensity and precision in this area, but it also stands for the implementation the strategy of our parent company Hydro, in which the highest priority of occupational safety and health at all locations worldwide is on the flag. “