Avery Dennison Corporation’s factory in Cramlington, UK, has won an International Safety Award with merit from the British Safety Council in recognition of the company’s commitment to keeping its workers safe during 2014.
For the last four years, the Cramlington plant has had zero accidents or injuries reportable under the UK’s Reportable Injuries, Diseases or Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR). Measured according to more stringent US safety regulations, the facility has had an average recordable incident rate of 0.9 over the last four years – well below the US manufacturing industry average of 4.4. Its 12-month recordable incident rate is 0.5, and its rate for the year to date is zero.
The Cramlington factory achieved its safety record by engaging employees in training and safety awareness campaigns. In 2014, management at Cramlington launched an initiative called “Think Safety—Stop, Think, Act,” which consisted of quarterly campaigns covering a specific safety topic. One quarter’s campaign included on-the-job risk assessments; another urged employees to keep their focus.
Cramlington plant manager Lisa Thompson said her team’s record is the result of a special team-based approach to safety that began in 2013.
“We really looked at how to engage the workforce in a different way. We wanted to engage every individual on site,” she said. “We used several methods to include everyone in our safety culture, and to use employees’ ideas to drive safety improvements. The quarterly campaigns really grabbed their attention –there was a strong message behind each one.”
Thompson said she and the plant’s leadership team personally conducted safety training with every manager on site and created safety teams made up of a rotating roster of employees. What the teams discovered was surprising.
“We recognized that SOPs were available for nearly every routine act on site –but this is not where injuries or near-misses were occurring. It was non-routine activities that showed the highest risk, so we trained every employee in how to do dynamic risk assessment, and how to gauge the specific risks in even their non-routine activities. Then we measured how many assessments were being completed, and how well, and followed up on those that needed help.”
US-based Avery Dennison has made safety a core value company-wide. In 2011, the company launched “ZERO is Achievable,” an initiative seeking to eliminate employee injuries and environmental incidents. Company-wide, it maintains a recordable incident rate of 0.34. The company establishes high safety standards for all global locations, and promotes efforts to exceed local safety regulations where possible.
Now in its 57th year, the International Safety Awards seek to celebrate and promote the success of the winning organizations and their employees in maintaining a safe and healthy working environment for all. The awards are open to businesses, public and third sector bodies of all sizes and sectors. More than 500 organizations won an International Safety Award for 2015, spanning all sectors and including organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the UK and the West Indies. Award recipients will be honored at a black-tie event in London on April 25.
Read more about Avery Dennison’s commitment to safety, and join the conversation on the Avery Dennison blog.
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