Corporate social responsibility review
The Northern Way – How we do business
Highlights
- Achieving Gold status in the Business in the Community (BITC) Corporate Responsibility Index;
- Improving energy efficiency and delivering the fourth Climate Change Levy target;
- Sponsoring 60 food science undergraduates in 2008 with a further 90 planned over the next three years;
- Supporting 565 primary schools with their healthy eating programmes through our Phunky Foods sponsorship;
- Engaging with over 20 policy making and industry bodies to shape future good practice;
- Sustaining a strong performance on Health & Safety;
- Developing the Northern Foods Academy to deliver our commitment to training;
- Delivering Well-being programmes across the Company;
- Maintaining our status as the only food manufacturer to have achieved UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Services) accreditation for both our food testing and site certification activities, for the eighth year running;
- Securing The Good Egg Award for the commitment to use only cage-free and organic eggs in our Biscuits business.
During 2008/09 we made great progress in our Corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda (the Northern Way), embedding this into our ways of working and identifying partners to help deliver change.
The Northern Way is central to how we do business and is aligned with our business goals of increasing profitability, by developing our people, improving sustainability, husbanding resources and working with partners to deliver the required change.
We continue to build on our relationship with BITC, the UK’s acknowledged thought leaders in CSR and continue to develop programmes which impact on the workplace, marketplace, environment and community.
Our Northern Way KPIs are detailed in the Key Performance Indicators table, which gives a detailed picture of our progress to date and targets for the next two years.
Workplace
Northern Foods is a great place to work, we operate in 21 manufacturing sites and employ around 10,000 people. We understand that skilled and motivated people are fundamental to our performance. Considerable time and resources are invested to ensure that the safety, well-being and development needs of our people are addressed and that we support our people to deliver better results.
Health & Safety (H&S)
We have continued to deliver improvements in performance, with a 19% reduction in headline statistics from 0.66 to 0.54 (see graph below). In addition, we have developed our H&S leadership model and have embedded processes at Board, Business unit and site levels in accordance with the IOD/HSE guidance on ‘Leading Health and Safety at Work’.
12 month rolling accident frequency rates
Per hundred thousand hours worked
Key areas of focus in our strategy are audits and surveys, training/technical development and property protection enhancement. This includes the delivery of behavioural safety and business continuity management processes across Group sites.
This strong H&S leadership model, pro-active strategy and excellent capability now in place are together helping to ensure that we maintain and develop a sustainable, continuously improving H&S culture.
Our Dalepak Foods site has recently achieved a 12 month period with an Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) of zero. Strong leadership on H&S through a difficult change process and the application of the strategic initiatives outlined above, have helped this operation improve from an AFR of 1.58 in March 2008 to an AFR of 0.0 in March 2009. This represents an excellent improvement story for this site and underlines the effectiveness of our developed strategy.
Training
Training is fundamental to delivering the quality, service and efficiency standards demanded by our customers and consumers. To be successful, we must ensure our employees have the skills they need to be efficient in their current role and to develop their careers.
Northern Foods signed the Skills Pledge in May 2007, this is a public declaration to deliver nationally recognised qualifications to our people. To deliver this pledge, we have signed a strategic agreement with the Grimsby Institute who will work with us to develop and deliver all of our training needs. In 2008/09, 548 people achieved national qualifications through the pilot, the aim in 2009/10 is for a further 1,700 people to gain nationally recognised qualification standards.
Well-being
The health and Well-being of our employees contributes to the health of the business. Pro-active management in this area can help reduce absence costs and improve productivity. Over the last 12 months a Group wide Well-being programme has been delivered across all sites (see table below).
This activity has had a positive contribution on our Company absence rate, which has reduced from 5.83% to 4.65%.
Well-being calendar
Month |
Focus |
Activity |
|---|---|---|
September |
Know your numbers |
Individual blood pressure and heart rate sessions with occupational health experts |
October |
World sight day |
Free eye tests for VDU users and Specsaver activity |
March |
Mother’s Day |
Payment for Parents, information based activity to ensure all parents are claiming their entitlements |
Community
Northern Foods can have a positive impact on the community at a national and local level. We have focused on projects which enhance our links with the local community and contribute to consumer well-being in the area of food.
Phunky Foods
In 2008/09 we continued our support of Phunky Foods, the unique primary school programme, which delivers healthy lifestyle education for 5 to 11 year olds. The programme supports the development of informed choice by introducing children, their families and their teachers to the science of healthy lifestyles. Four operating sites have each formed strong partnerships with 13 local schools, with the Pizza Factory in Nottingham delivering a full day’s training in pizza making at the local primary school.
As founder sponsors, Northern Foods has supported the programme since its pilot stage and is delighted to have the programme in 565 schools across England this year.
Sponsorship of undergraduate food scientists
One in four food science roles is vacant at any one time in our industry. In January 2007 Northern Foods launched a Foundation for Food Science and Technology, providing bursary support for food science and technology undergraduates. The Foundation will provide support for undergraduates for the duration of their courses at Leeds, Nottingham and Reading Universities.
In addition, we continue to work with these Universities to identify ways to increase participation in these areas, and this includes the introduction of the Nottingham Summer School in Food Sciences in 2009, aimed at helping GCSE students to find out more about what it is like to work in the Food Industry and to study a food science related degree at University. This will complement the long-established Summer School for A level students run by the University of Reading, for which Northern Foods has been a key sponsor for many years.
Stakeholder engagement
Effective stakeholder management can help us to manage risk and optimise our performance. Northern Foods is actively involved in relevant industry and regulatory bodies, which allows us to respond effectively to emerging challenges. During 2008/09 our involvement included, but was not limited to:
- Chief Executive membership of the Prince’s Rural Action Programme;
- Regional Ambassador for Yorkshire & Humberside for BITC;
- Board membership of Improve, the sector skills council for food manufacturing;
- Board membership for the Centre for Robotics and Automation (CENfRA);
- Acting as a member of a pilot project for the Health & Safety Executive (HSE);
- Furthering the food chain safety and sustainability activities of the executive committee of the Chilled Food Association (CFA);
- Chairing the Microbiological Assurance/Quality Control working party for the world renowned Camden and Chorleywood Food Research Association (CCFRA);
- President of the Irish National Training Council;
- Chair of the Economic Affairs Committee for the Irish Business and Employers Confederation.
Overall Northern Foods is involved with more than 20 external bodies, to which it devoted an estimated 20 months of senior executive time. This investment helps the sector to share best practice and support the consumer’s needs as efficiently as possible.
Northern Foods donated £74,000 (2007/08: £60,000) to various charities during 2008/09.
Rural action awards
The year saw the Group’s continued sponsorship of the Rural Action Award, one of BITC’s Awards for Excellence which showcase CSR best practice in the UK. Supporting this award nationally recognises companies which are working hard to create and maintain a vibrant, sustainable rural economy.
Environment
Northern Foods understands that sustainability and environmental commitment makes great business sense and can deliver competitive advantage. In 2008/09, the Group revisited its carbon footprint to align itself to the World Resource Institute’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 3 Emissions. The project identified energy usage as the main area in which we could make the most difference.
Progress on environmental issues is assessed by the Operating board on a monthly basis. Energy, waste and water reduction targets have been agreed (see Key Performance Indicators table). Northern Foods was delighted to be recognised as one of the most improved companies in the BITC environmental index (see Key Performance Indicators table).
Energy
Northern Foods has delivered its Climate Change Levy targets for the fourth time. Energy teams at each site continued to identify areas for further efficiency gains, these projects are coordinated, including monitoring and targeting, through the Operations Excellence team. In some sites we have delivered significant energy reduction and now we are identifying best practice and rolling this out across the Group.
We have also provided an annual update to the Carbon Disclosure Project, an initiative which benchmarks progress of ‘UK plc’ in mitigating the impact of climate change.
Waste
Good husbandry of our resources brings environmental and financial benefits. Northern Foods was one of the first food manufacturers to sign the Courtauld Commitment in November 2006. This is a public declaration to deliver zero packaging growth by 2008 and 3% packaging reduction from 2010 whilst simultaneously tackling the issue of food waste. We have worked with the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the architects of the Courtauld Commitment, to agree targets and report results.
In last year’s report we repeated our commitment to zero waste to landfill by 2010. Due to the economic changes we have all witnessed, the anticipated Encycle solution is not yet commissioned. Northern Foods is still committed to zero waste to landfill and we will achieve this through local site and regional partnerships, ranging from anaerobic digesters, to composting, reuse of material on site and better streaming of our contaminated waste.
Two examples of effective local management are:
- The Fat Strippa™ at our Fox’s site in Kirkham, which captures one tonne of fat each month, from the wash room waste water, which is recycled into bio fuel.
- The introduction of Wormtech to the Swansea site, where we will send 50% of our current landfill waste to be composted and recycled.
The Group has nine sites which are compliant for Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), a government regulated Environmental Management System (EMS), and a further two will be IPPC compliant this year. We are proactively introducing EMS to all sites during 2009/10.
Market place
Our market place activities cover the Group’s responsibilities to create food that is safe to eat, that reflects the healthy eating agenda and that helps consumers make informed purchasing decisions.
Food safety
Having appropriate testing and audit procedures in place to assure food safety and quality is core to the Group’s proposition. Our Nottingham based accredited central testing laboratory continues to occupy an unparalleled position for results reliability, with more than half a million tests conducted throughout our Group every week.
To support the continuous development of leading standards in the safe production of wholesome food, the Group continued to share expert microbiological and technical knowledge with key organisations such as the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Chilled Food Association (CFA), Department of Environment Foods and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the British Retail Consortium and Campden BRI.
Recipe reformulation
The Group has continued on course to meet the national targets for salt reduction ahead of the FSA’s 2010 schedule. In 2008, we again supported the FSA, this time as industry stakeholders in the Saturated Fat & Energy Density agenda for both biscuits and meat products, and hosted FSA Nutrition Group visits to our Fox’s biscuits site in Kirkham and our Holland’s site in Accrington. We continue to consider nutritional quality in each and every product reformulation.
Supporting informed purchasing
Front of pack additional nutritional labelling, based on clearly defined recommended portions, for example half a pizza or a single biscuit, is in place across our brands, giving the consumer the knowledge they need to make an informed choice.
Supply chain impact
The Group continues to recognise the potential impact it has on those in our wider supply chain. It is now recognised that primary agriculture accounts for more than 60% of the total carbon footprint in the food supply chain. We continue to work with our approved suppliers to champion best practice and to minimise our impact where possible. Northern Foods’ farm assurance policy is how we work in partnership with our supply chain. The policy has been approved by the National Farmers Union and is available on our website.
Sedex is the largest Ethical Trading database in the world, active in 132 countries with over 18,000 companies participating. Northern Foods was a founding member of Sedex in 1998. This year we have targeted ourselves with persuading 75 of our top 150 suppliers to become members of Sedex (see table overleaf for current details). This will provide a better connection between our businesses and that of our global suppliers in order to improve the sharing of ethical data and to enable the continuous improvement of ethical performance.
Northern Foods has a great commitment to employees, agency staff and migrant labour. Our labour policy ensures all staff, including agency workers and migrant labour, are given the same support on health & safety, including the provision of full training.
Conclusion
Our aim during the year was to secure real business benefit from the Northern Way.
The Northern Way is delivering measurable benefits in energy, waste and water reduction, as well as employee development to achieve nationally recognised qualifications.
This structured approach is firmly embedding the Northern Way in how we do business and Northern Foods was pleased to be recognised in April 2009 with a gold rating in the BITC ‘100 Companies That Count’ rankings.
Insulation
Saving energy is all about detail; lagging pipes and turning lights off can make a big difference
Our employees are helping us to save energy
Food waste
Our Swansea site composts food waste instead of sending it to landfill
We are a signatory to the Courtauld commitment on reducing waste, packaging and landfill
The new Fat Strippa™ at our Kirkham site collects fat to re-use as biofuel
We enabled 548 employees to achieve national qualifications this year
We rolled out our Well-being programme this year