CHEP NZ noticed that they had had 35 manual handling injuries in just one year. Not at all pleased with those stats, they set out to improve what was not working and the results have been fantastic for their workforce and for their business.
Analysing The Cause
With experienced leaders like Richard Dunn, CHEP’s Safety, Health and Environment Manager, and Ed Fili, Service Centre Manager at Wiri, the team was able to identify the key hazards contributing to workplace injuries in their 24/6 operation. Among the risks were trucks, forklifts and manual handling, with manual handling being a leading cause of injury.
Their team were having to lift pallets onto a table for repair and were sustaining all sorts of injuries from lifting, bending and twisting because safe operating procedures weren’t being followed.
What happened next is all sites came together to create a new training programme so procedures would be followed and injuries reduced.
“A lot of the training was around how to approach people and talk with them in ways which wouldn’t offend,” said Richard.
“The emphasis wasn’t on ‘you’re doing that wrong’ but on ‘we all need to be doing things the safest way’.”
Hands up who wants to help?
Recognising that just training alone wasn’t going to be enough, CHEP understood the importance of creating a culture where staff felt confident and empowered to speak up, especially when it came to looking out for their workmates.
To support this, CHEP called for volunteers to become Safety Behaviour Improvement (SBI) observers. The response was great, with many team members putting their hands up.
Working alongside Health and Safety Representatives, these SBIs have helped implement a shift in workplace culture, particularly in encouraging their teammates to speak up and how to raise concerns, because sometimes they weren’t comfortable going directly to their supervisors. It’s been a key driver in changing the safety mindset across the team.
Looking Out For One Another
The outcome?
“What’s been the biggest change? People don’t see it as compliance now, but as looking out for one another. There’s a recognition that every single person in this business has personal responsibility for health and safety,” added Richard.
That’s not the only good news; their number of manual handling injuries has reduced year on year, targets are being met, people are more engaged and happier. That’s not only good news – that’s great news!
If you can achieve that with a 24 hour, 6 day a week supply chain operation with 350 employees, that proves it can be done.
Looking for help on how to build a proactive safety culture like CHEP NZ? Safety Ange can show you how.
