Health & Safety

Health & Safety

Safety Timeout

Whilst the UK operations have had a positive start to 2021 historically April and May are the worst months for serious injuries.

This coincides with rising production levels, holiday periods, and generally greater pressure on the business.  Unfortunately, there have been several serious incidents across the EMEAA region recently.  With that in mind all of our EMEAA operations are having a safety timeout.

Please use the materials provided by the Health & Safety team to discuss safety with your teams and reflect on the fact that safety has no memory and we need to look after ourselves and each other all the time.  The briefing document can be found in the download section of the UK News website here

Here is a UK summary so far for 2021:

  • Major injuries are down 50%, with three to date rather than six in this stage last year.
  • We have had no employee LTIs in the first quarter of 2021.
  • Near Miss Hazard Alerts are down to three reports per person per year compared with ten across EMEAA – an improvement opportunity for us.

 To provide added context in relation to two of the incidents reported in the time out information: the driver who died in the fatal road traffic incident was a father of four in his 30’s, while the contractor who suffered the hand injury had his arm pulled into a rotating conveyor drum as he cleaned it with a hammer; thankfully a loading shovel driver was able to quickly activate the emergency stop and save the contractor from more serious injury… Don’t assume incidents like these couldn’t happen in our operations, sadly experience has taught us that they can, and do.

 When reviewing the discussion points, it would be helpful if you could:

  • Focus on the importance of Near Miss/Hazard Alert reporting… We have seen reporting continue to fall and now have the lowest rate in the EMEAA Region at three cards per person per year.  If we fail to report near misses and hazards we lose the opportunity to learn and take corrective action.
  • Stress the need to STEP IN and Speak Up if we see anything we believe may be unsafe… we could be saving a life.
  • Always STOP & THINK before starting a new task, taking the time to complete a Take 5 / Worksafe Assessment when necessary to ensure all required precautions have been taken.

Please take proactive action now to ensure we minimise the potential for serious injury and avoid a seasonal upturn in injuries.

The briefing is also available in a mobile friendly format via Sway: https://sway.office.com/L0xbbBXW1ySbbebS?ref=Link