Safety and wellbeing
We believe that creating a safety first culture is a fundamental part of demonstrating our respect for individual employees.
Accordingly, the Health and Safety (H&S) agenda is a major focus and continuing priority for us – so much so that we require it to be the first subject covered off in morning site meetings. We report every year on our H&S performance and our health and safety policy sets out our standards.
Good progress
In 2005/06 we committed to reducing our accident frequency rate by 30% over three years and significant progress was made in 2006/07.
During the year Northern Foods revisited many of its health and safety standards. A key outcome of this review was the introduction of a revised audit protocol with increased focus on operational risks. This generated detailed improvement plans where standards were below expectation.
This emphasis on wider safety management improvement has helped us deliver a 28% reduction in the accident frequency rate in the 2006/07 financial year, well ahead of the 15% target we set, and building on a 21% reduction in 2004/05. This is a strong result but we believe an even greater improvement is achievable.
To deliver sustained improvement, all senior personnel and those with direct operational responsibility have specific health and safety objectives as part of their performance contracts and training packages have been developed for middle level managers.
As part of the group wide focus on operational risk reduction, several initiatives were implemented to reduce the incidents of process related fires. These included a review of oven fire suppression standards, auditing on fryer operations, and the completion of several workshop events, at which all sites with oven equipment were represented. This process was led by the chief executive. As a result of these initiatives, and investment in site improvements, the group has achieved a near 50% reduction in process fires and a very robust reporting culture is now in place.
To further embed a Safety First culture into day to day operations, internal Best Practice Awards were successfully launched this year. The business also achieved six Royal Society for the Prevention of Accident awards, further underlining the commitment to occupational health and safety across the group.
Case study: Working safely at height
An initiative across ourSandwiches & Salads business unit has helped to reduce work at height risk and ensure compliance with the Work at Height Regulations 2005. New sherpascopic platforms which provide additional legs for stability and a safe work zone were introduced to replace ladders. Users were re-trained, and improved inspection procedures were implemented. As a result, there have been no accidents in this financial period involving employees working at height. Employees have responded positively to the procedures and a best practice model for the rest of the business has been created.