Everybody goes home safe – every day |22 September 2010

For safety, our motto is Everybody Goes Home Safe – Every Day.
Being a manufacturing site with inherent safety risks, SBL has always taken health and safety matters seriously and is proud of its achievements over the years.

Despite that, we feel that the underlying safety culture is not yet fully developed and a more focused and structured approach is needed to truly become a “zero harm” site.

In July 2009 we put in place a fully resourced health and safety team of three and embarked on introducing a highly participative safety improvement record card (SIRC) system that encourages all staff to identify and report any safety risks they spot in the workplace by filling out a report card.

The information is then entered on a database, prioritised and assigned to an individual or team to resolve.

These risks range from unsafe conditions (for example housekeeping issues, equipment deficiency, procedure deficiency, manual handling) to unsafe behaviour (such as not wearing mandatory protective equipment, not following safety procedure, hazardous driving).

The scheme was launched formally with the full support of the SBL leadership team.

In the first year after its launch, our staff reported a total of 764 risks, and almost everybody had taken part.

By the end of the same period, about 70% of those risks had been removed, making the work environment safer for all.
Most of the work was done by our own staff, particularly our engineering team who redesigned and added safety features such as safe access ladders, platforms and steps.

But that is not all. We introduced safety recognition and reward by publicly acknowledging employees who are most active in identifying risks. The winner is presented with a prize at our regular quarterly staff meetings.

Recently we introduced a “safety bingo” – for every week worked without a safety incident a bingo number is drawn. All employees were given a bingo card, and prizes will be won similar to a regular bingo game.

As a company, we have set targets for safety, just as we do for other business areas such as cost, quality and financial performance.

The most important one is the number of Lost Time Accidents (LTA = any accident that results in one or more days’ sick leave) but we also monitor first aid injuries, near misses, compliance level for wearing mandatory personal safety equipment and the number of SIRCs reported.

We hold a weekly dedicated health and safety meeting chaired by the managing director and attended by the whole management team. And all meetings at SBL start with safety – from daily shop floor shift meetings to monthly management meetings to the AGM.

All our managers and team leaders have signed personal pledges to adopt safety leadership behaviour – for example challenging unsafe behaviour, recognition of safe behaviour, role modelling and doing safety walkabouts.

Safe systems are also an integral part of our daily work. We operate a “permit to work” system that governs hazardous tasks such as working at height, electrical work, confined space entry.

We regularly communicate how we perform against our targets and have erected a billboard at the factory entrance depicting the number of days worked without an accident, as well as the record number of days. This keeps us all focused on going home safe every day.

In our experience, to create a successful safety culture three main elements must be present and are intrinsically linked:

1. The right management infrastructure – procedures and policies, safe systems and adequate resources.

2. Safe equipment and operating conditions – appropriately designed machines and other equipment.

3. Mindset and behaviour – leadership and staff commitment, role modelling and other leadership behaviour in action, good communication, shared company values and positive intent.

We have truly started our journey to achieving “zero harm” status and have recognised that changing the safety culture of an organisation is key to this.

What does the future hold for SBL?

No doubt we will become the safest workplace in the country with a recognised reputation for putting people first and showcasing a holistic and integrated approach to safety management.