abf hse insights jan 2017v09abf-hseinsights.com/downloads/hse-insights-01-english.pdf · insights...

home I exit I pr int I >> I << 1The ABF HSE INSIGHTS newsletter is for employees of the ABF Group only

ContentsHealthHands-on approach to avoiding injury >>Making manual handling safe at GWF >>

SafetyHow safe are we? >>Where is our next accident? >>Learning on the move at AB Agri >>Allied Bakeries scoops international award >>Making the most of our dough >>

EnvironmentEnergy trends at ABF >>Doing good every day: our latest CR report >>Energy efficiency at Allied Bakeries >>

Talking PointSarah Arrowsmith >>

Contacts & links >>

H IS IEinsightsISSUE 01 FEBRUARY 2017

Where is our next accident? >>

Hands-on approach to avoiding injury >>

Energy efficiency at Allied Bakeries >>

Building a safe workplace

Des PullenGroup HR DirectorAssociated British Foods [email protected]

I’m very pleased to be asked to contribute to this first edition of HSE insights.

As I look through the content of this newsletter, I’m reminded that there are no easy shortcuts to building a safe workplace. Yes, we can design a safe workplace, as described by Jak Thomas from Allied Bakeries. We can train our people well in matters like manual

handling. We can maintain engagement and enthusiasm through innovative communications, as detailed in the article from Walthamstow Bakery. The combined efforts of all of us go a long, long way to making our workplaces safe.

However, things go wrong. Jeff Marston’s powerful article from AB Agri shows that an apparently safe site still contains real dangers. Steve Bradley’s sobering article reminds us that three of our colleagues did not return home after work during 2016 – and

more than 450 of us had a lost time injury. We are rightly proud of our commitment and our progress but never, ever complacent.

I hope you enjoy this newsletter – its aim is to share experience and thinking across the Group.

I encourage you to read it and follow up with your colleagues any of the articles that particularly catch your attention. Similarly, if you have something you want to share or ideas for future content, please contact Steve, Louise or Michaela directly. n

mailto:[email protected]?subject=HSE_insights


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Louise Holloway HSE Specialist, ABF plc [email protected]

Manual handling is the moving or supporting of a load (e.g. pushing, pulling, lifting or lowering) by hand or bodily force. Risks exist even when light loads are being

handled if the task is repetitive and/or being carried out in bad conditions. Poor ergonomics and workplace layout are key factors in many hazardous

Anyone involved in the moving and handling of goods can be at risk of injury or harm. We look at how to stay safe when your job involves manual handling

manual handling tasks as is the weight of the item being moved. Other factors can also contribute to a risk of injury from manual handling such as the number of times you have to pick up or carry an item, the distance you need to carry it, where you are picking it up from or putting it down (e.g. picking up from the floor or putting it on a shelf above shoulder level) and any twisting, bending, stretching or other awkward posture you may adopt while doing a task. Manual handling injury symptoms are collectively known as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The term MSD covers any injury, damage or disorder of the joints or other tissues in the upper/lower limbs or back.

MSDs can include:n Joint stiffness/reduced range of movementn Joint swelling and inflammationn Pain described as an ache, a sharp pain or as burning, throbbing* or shooting*n Numbness/pins and needles*n Muscle weakness/fatigue**Typical of spinal nerve compression

Understanding the symptomsUnderstanding the symptoms of an injury related to manual handling and catching them early can help prevent long-term problems.

Common long-term back problems can include:n Muscular injuries n Disc problems e.g. sciatica (a protruding or herniated disc can press on the sciatic nerve causing pain down one or both legs)n Joint problems (arthritis) – backwards or sideways bending causes the joints to pinch or rub together Over time, this may cause damage to the cartilage protecting the joints.

Manual handling injuries generally arise from ‘cumulative strain’. They can lead to a progressive build-up of muscle, tissue or ligament damage over time. They can also be caused by bad habits or excessive or prolonged exertion and loading. According to recent statistics from the Labour Force Survey, more than a third of all reportable injuries over three days in the UK involve manual handling, and around 10% of major injuries are linked to it (for sites outside UK please refer to your own national data). >>

A ‘hands-on’ approach to avoiding injury

‘Understanding the symptoms of an injury related to manual handling and catching them early can help prevent long-term problems’



This clearly has a major impact on the workplace, and costs the economy hundreds of millions of pounds every year. Furthermore, in the UK, 1.1 million people have reported that they suffer from MSDs that have been caused or made worse by work. It’s estimated that a staggering 8.8 million working days are lost annually due to work-related MSDs.

Taking actionWhen it comes to ensuring your own safety when carrying out manual handling tasks, there is plenty you can do. For a start, try to avoid hazardous manual handling operations as much as possible.

‘This has a major impact on all workplaces, and costs the economy hundreds of millions of pounds every year’

Check whether you need to move the load at all. For instance, could heavy raw materials be delivered directly to their point of use? Could a task be specifically designed to avoid anyone having to move the load by automating or mechanising the process? Secondly, control the risks. Carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk of injury from manual handling activities that cannot be avoided. Some key considerations are highlighted in the table (see right). Remember to involve the people doing the actual job in the risk assessment, as well as vulnerable people e.g. those who may be at an increased risk of injury as a result of a pre-existing medical condition or who are expectant mothers or older colleagues. Where possible, provide mechanical assistance to help with the task, such as a trolley or hoist. Where this is not practical, explore what changes you can make to the task, the load and the working environment. Training should also be provided to all employees on correct manual handling techniques and compliance to the regulations and correctly taught methods must be monitored. n

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Problems to look for when making an assessmentThe tasks, do they involve:niholding loads away from the body? ntwisting, stooping or reaching upwards? nlarge vertical movement? nlong carrying distances? nstrenuous pushing or pulling? nrepetitive handling? ninsuffi cient rest or recovery time? na work rate imposed by a process?

The loads, are they:nheavy or bulky? ndiffi cult to grasp? nunstable or likely to move unpredictably (like animals)?nharmful, eg sharp or hot? nawkwardly stacked? ntoo large for the handler to see over?

The working environment, are there:nrestrictions on posture? nbumpy, obstructed or slippery fl oors? nvariations in fl oor levels? nhot/cold/humid conditions? ngusts of wind or other strong air movements? npoor lighting conditions? nrestrictions on movements from clothes or personal protective equipment (PPE)?

Individual capacity, does the job:nrequire unusual capability, eg above average nstrength or agility?endanger those with a health problem or learning/physical disability?nendanger pregnant women? ncall for special information or training?

Handling aids and equipment:nis the device the correct type for the job? nis it well maintained? nare the wheels on the device suited to the fl oor nsurface?do the wheels run freely? nis the handle height between the waist and shoulders?nare the handle grips in good condition and comfortable?are there any brakes? nIf so, do they work?

Work organisation factors:nis the work repetitive or boring? nis work machine or system-paced? ndo workers feel the demands of the work are excessive?nhave workers little control of the work and working methods?nis there poor communication between managers and employees?

Ways of reducing the risk of injury

Can you:niuse a lifting aid? nimprove workplace layout to improve effi ciency? nreduce the amount of twisting and stooping? navoid lifting from fl oor level or above shoulder height, especially heavy loads?nreduce carrying distances? navoid repetitive handling? nvary the work, allowing one set of muscles to rest while another is used?npush rather than pull?

Can you make the load:nlighter or less bulky? neasier to grasp? nmore stable? nevenly stacked? If the load comes in from elsewhere, have you asked the supplier to help, eg by providing handles or smaller packages?

Can you:nremove obstructions to free movement? nprovide better fl ooring? navoid steps and steep ramps?nprevent extremes of hot and cold? nimprove lighting? nprovide protective clothing or PPE that is less restrictive?nensure your employees’ clothing and footwear is suitable for their work?

Can you:npay particular attention to those who have a physical weakness?ntake extra care of pregnant workers? ngive your employees more information, eg about the range of tasks they are likely to face?nprovide more training (see ‘What about training?’) nget advice from an occupational health advisor if you need to?

Can you:nadjust the work rate? nprovide equipment that is more suitable for the task?ncarry out planned preventive maintenance to prevent problems?nchange the wheels, tyres and/or fl ooring so that equipment moves easily?nprovide better handles and handle grips? nmake the brakes easier to use, reliable and effective?

Can you:nchange tasks to reduce the monotony? nmake more use of workers’ skills? nmake workloads and deadlines more achievable? nencourage good communication and teamwork? ninvolve workers in decisions? nprovide better training and information?


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John Naughton HSE Director, GWF [email protected]

GWF has plenty to celebrate when it comes to manual improvements. Over the past two years, the business has reduced its overall

manual handling injuries risk by an impressive 34% with

A series of practical changes and innovations across GWF sites in Australia and New Zealand has dramatically lowered the risk of manual handling injuries. John Naughton, HSE Director for GWF reveals the details

some production lines seeing significantly larger reductions. The business was also able to reduce the cost of production per unit (CPU) by up to 27% in some cases. Here are some recent examples of successful manual handling improvements taking place across GWF.

Tip Top Dry CreekIn 2015, the Tip Top Dry Creek team in South Australia looked into how better technology could greatly improve efficiencies and reduce manual handling risks on some of their production lines, including the crumpet breaks line. It was discovered that the process flow used excessive manual handling in order to sort, stack and transfer up to 120 crumpets per minute per line from the two cooling conveyors to the flow wrapper. The team developed a project scope that outlined a number of automation opportunities. After consultation with ABB Australia, this was refined and submitted to potential suppliers. Interested suppliers were then shortlisted on the following basis and invited to tender for the project:

Best design and concepts:nExperience and previous successful solutions with pick and place robotsn Experience with ABB robotics; andn Most cost-effective and automated solution

Automation and Robotic Technologies (ART) was selected as the supplier for this project. The robots were installed at the Dry Creek site in February 2016 and have been in operation ever since. The project has been a great success, achieving an outstanding CPU reduction and a significant drop in manual handling injuries. >>

How GWF is making manual handling safeThe new and improved Tip Top Dry Creek crumpet line

‘A winning combination of innovation, forward thinking, consultation and collaboration with staff has led to some great achievements’



better, the Driver department has been recording a very pleasing ‘zero’ injury rate every month since July 2016.

bodySafe sees resultsIn 2013, a highly interactive and engaging online manual handling module called ‘bodySafe’ was released across the business, featuring a worker telling his story about the devastating effects that a manual handling injury had on both his personal and working life. The module included practical video clips filmed at GWF workplaces that showed the step-by-step process to be followed when moving and lifting objects. Since the launch of bodySafe, the module has been completed more than 5,000 times and there appears to be a strong correlation between this and a reduction in manual handling injuries.

Since 2013, manual handling injury claims have diminished by approximately 35%, demonstrating the power of training initiatives in this area. It’s clear that a winning combination of innovation, forward thinking, consultation and collaboration with staff has led to some great achievements, including more than 16,000 tonnes of weight being removed from GWF manual handling activities and a reduction of 20 million movements per year. These results speak for themselves and we can certainly see the benefit to both employees and business alike. n

Tip Top Wiri New ZealandAlso in 2015, the Tip Top team at the Wiri site in New Zealand spotted a key opportunity to lessen the weight and reduce the number of repetitive lifts that the team was undertaking every day when moving meat between various pieces of processing equipment. As part of a wider upgrade of the Big Ben pie manufacturing line and the installation of new equipment, the team introduced a new conveyor system to transfer meat from the mincer/dicer to the kettles. Prior to the conveyor being fitted, the team was lifting more than 200 bins of meat every day, each weighing a hefty 21kg. This equated to approximately 4.5 tonnes of meat per day needing to be lifted and transported manually. Now that the new kettles and conveyor system are in place, the team

has completely eliminated the daily need to lift 4.5 tonnes of meat.

Tip Top NewcastleAlarm bells rang for the team at Tip Top Newcastle, Australia, when a statistics review in October 2014 revealed a significant increase in recordable manual handling injuries in the Supply Chain division involving warehouse pickers and company drivers. Following urgent consultation with employees and managers to identify the root causes of these injuries, attention turned to heavy dollies (up to 300kg in weight) that were being pushed manually up a ramp into trailers. The team was moving as many as 150 dollies a day, representing a staggering 42 tonnes in weight. The solution came straight from the employees, who suggested designing and manufacturing a ‘walk-behind’ unit to hold two dollies safely during their journey to the trailers. Two ‘walk-behind’ units have now been in operation since 2015 and have enabled some outstanding results. For instance the injury rate has dropped dramatically within the Warehouse department, which is set to hit zero very soon. Even

‘Now that the new kettles and conveyor system are in place, the team has completely eliminated the daily need to lift 4.5 tonnes of meat’

New kettle room where the meat is conveyed into the kettles from the meat prep room

Keeping people safe with the new ‘walk-behind’ units

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‘In 2016, the businesses invested £36 million in health and safety, including £14 million specifically on major safety improvement projects’

Steve Bradley Group Safety & Environment Manager, ABF plc [email protected]

Over the years we have been very successful in preventing injuries, thanks to the dedication and professionalism of our management teams and the involvement and support of our entire

workforce. Tragically, however, there have been occasional terrible accidents that have led to people dying. Any loss of life is totally unacceptable and the prevention of these events is an absolute requirement.

Terrible events can happen anywhereWe deeply regret that during our last financial year three men lost their lives whilst working for us. All three were fully trained and highly experienced. Thorough investigations revealed the root causes and

ABF has always made it a top priority to look after everyone who works for us and to promote good health. This is enshrined in our recently updated Health and Safety Policy. Our aim is that everyone goes home in the same condition as they came to work

How safe are we?the key learnings were communicated to all ABF companies to ensure that these tragic events will never be repeated. It could be tempting to think that terrible events couldn’t happen at our workplace or to you or me. Yet for these men they did happen. The circumstances leading to their deaths have led us to review the safe working procedures and training needed across ABF thoroughly.

Reportable injuries at ABF are currently less than 0.5% of the workforceDuring 2015/16 there were 454 injuries at ABF companies reportable to the external regulators. Given the large number of people who work for ABF and its companies, that equates to just under half of one percent of the workforce. However, there is no universal definition of a ‘reportable injury’ across the 50 countries in which we operate. So for years we have used the concept of a Lost Time Injury (LTI) as a common measure across ABF. An LTI is an injury sufficiently serious as to cause at least one day off work as a direct result.

Over the past decade ABF has expanded from employing 35,000 people to now employing 130,000 people in many countries. During that time our manufacturing operations have made an 85% reduction in the rate of LTIs. In 2016, ABF businesses invested £36 million in Health and Safety, including £14 million on major safety improvement projects. Other significant amounts have been spent on employee and contractor training programmes, such as manual handling and handling dangerous goods, additional health and medical checks, and on personal protective equipment. Last year, 48% of our factories and stores operated without a LTI. Zero is possible. In 2016, George Weston, our Chief Executive, shared his vision for safety. Namely, that ABF must keep refining activities and procedures to ensure our approach to safety is fit for purpose within each site, that safety behaviour is ingrained in all we do and that we continue to address the health and wellbeing of all our people as our top priority.

No room for complacencyWe are improving all the time but we mustn’t become complacent. The moment we fail to keep the safety and wellbeing of ourselves and our colleagues at the forefront of our minds will be the time that someone is injured or could even die. We have a duty to ourselves, our colleagues and especially our families to never let that happen. Let’s all work together for an even safer 2017. n

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445 443372 465

454

2012# 2013# 2014# 2015# 2016#

Reportable injuries



Ben Hackett Operations & Technology Director, AB Sugar [email protected]

After more than 20 years working in various manufacturing roles for the Dow Chemical Company I joined AB Sugar in January 2012 as the Operations and Technology Director. Having seen

first-hand the impact that serious injury can have on the lives and families of our employees, the Health and Safety of our employees, colleagues, co-workers and friends is of paramount importance to me. Every one of us should go home safe at the end of each working day. During my time in this role, I have worked closely with each of the businesses of AB Sugar to promote health & safety excellence and to share good practice and systems across the group. The results to date have been outstanding with our six-month rolling average injury rate

‘Once we have true root causes identified, we can start to categorise the incidents by root cause and begin to see trends and improvement opportunities in our management systems’

Where is our next accident?Over the past few years we have made outstanding progress in improving our Health and Safety record; now the remaining challenge is to achieve a zero incidents record, says Ben Hackett, Operations and Technology Director for AB Sugar

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coming down from more than two incidents per millions of hours worked in 2010/11 to less than 0.4 in 2015/16. To put that into context, if we had not made these improvements and maintained a rate of two injuries per million hours worked, an additional 650 employees would have sustained injuries over this period. We should therefore take time to recognise our achievements and celebrate the successes that we have enjoyed. However, there are two things that continue to concern me. Namely, that the incident rate is ‘plateauing’ and that we are still experiencing work-related fatalities. The second point is especially worrying and requires rapid intervention to get to the only acceptable level of ‘zero’.

Achieving ‘zero’ incidentsSo, the question I ask is, what changes should we make to our management systems, work processes and improvement plans in order to continue to drive towards zero lost time injuries and eliminate all work-related fatalities? As I look back on our improvement plans over the years, it has become clear to me that we have always known inherently what we have needed to do to get better. Stronger policy and governance, more leadership engagement, improved systems of work and housekeeping activities, enhanced near-miss reporting, etc. have all enabled us to make improvements and get us to where we are today. Yet there is still a need to continue to improve and embed these activities into our operating disciplines. We can never be complacent and assume that they are an integral part of our values. Working on what we consider to be the right activities will only get us so far. The next stage in our improvement

journey is to sophisticate how we develop our improvement plans. For this, we need to look at the data we have collected and use them to set and prioritise our activities. Just as we use lost time analysis to identify the ‘bad actors’ in our factories from a reliability perspective, so we should use health & safety root cause data to identify the weaknesses and opportunities in our health & safety management systems.

Root cause analysisThe first stage of having more of a data-based improvement plan is to ensure that the data that we collect are robust and accurate. Unfortunately, I see all too frequently poor root cause investigation of our incidents and near misses that does not go far enough to identify the real root causes. A business priority should be to identify a root cause methodology, to identify the ‘triggers’ that require the use of such a tool, and to train a small number of people to facilitate the investigations. Once we have true root causes identified, we can start to categorise the incidents by root cause and begin to see trends and improvement opportunities in our management systems. The insight we will gain will allow us to have a better understanding of where the next incident is likely to occur, so that we can proactively put in place the best improvement plan possible. My personal belief is that by sophisticating how we develop our improvement plans, incorporating good data and understanding exactly ‘why’ we have chosen the priorities that we have chosen, we will get off our current ‘plateau’ and continue our journey towards ‘zero’ accidents. n



Jeff Marston Group Safety and Environment Manager, AB Agri Limited [email protected]

AB Agri operates at the heart of the agricultural industry, supplying products and services to farmers, feed and food manufacturers, processors and retailers. It also buys grain from farmers and

supplies crop inputs through its joint venture arable operation, Frontier Agriculture. The company’s unique breadth and experience enable it to add value all along the food, drink and biofuel industry supply chains. AB Agri employs more than 2,200 people in the UK and China, marketing products in more than 65 countries worldwide. A further 900 people are employed by Frontier. One of the things that differentiates AB Agri from the rest of ABF is that the 1,250 people we employ in the UK are split over more than 25 sites. A similar picture exists in Frontier, where approximately 900 staff are spread over more than 35 sites. In common with the rest of ABF, we initially felt confident that we had workplace transport under control on all our sites. Our teams had completed Workplace

Transport Assessments and we had identified several high-risk areas pertaining to transport. We implemented many corrective actions, including walkways and barriers, pedestrian exclusion zones, CCTV monitoring, one-way systems, mandatory hi-vis clothing and employee training. We also invested heavily in our own vehicles.

Learning from a devastating eventThen, in February 2014, we were devastated when a contractor working on our ABN site in Northallerton was crushed beneath the wheels of one our lorries as it reversed out from the refuelling bay. He experienced life-changing injuries. Prior to this, ABN Northallerton had enjoyed an excellent safety record, recording no lost time accidents for the previous eight years. It is a big open site that has a relatively low number of lorry movements every day (for example vehicles only refuel eight times in total over a 24-hour period). The site also

had clear walkways and barriers in place, along with clearly designated pedestrian areas. The investigation revealed that the injured party had been in a discussion with his line manager (who had come on site for another matter) and the two of them had walked in the blind spot of the vehicle, well away from the area covered by our permit to work. They did so after the driver had climbed into the cab, but before the truck started moving. They subsequently >>

There is never room for complacency where Health and Safety is concerned. AB Agri felt it had workplace transport under control, until a shocking incident at the Group’s ABN facility in Northallerton in 2014 showed otherwise. Report by Jeff Marston, Group Safety and Environment Manager for AB Agri

How AB Agri is learning on the moveSafety

‘A team covering safety, operations and engineering sat down to look at what could be learnt from the accident’

Improved segregation of

people and vehicles



ignored the lights and alarms on the truck. To add another ‘hole in the Swiss cheese’, the truck was a hire unit without a reversing camera so the driver was unable to see the area behind his truck. Once the immediate aftermath of the accident (accident investigation, HSE involvement, insurance, etc.) was over, a team covering safety, operations and engineering sat down to look at what could be learnt from the accident, in order to prevent it being repeated anywhere else within AB Agri. All of the sites were split into three groups, based on size, vehicle movements, number of pedestrians on site and whether a safe route to task existed there (both to and from work, for staff visitors and contractors alike). We then used the concept of a safe route to task, along with the need to get as close as possible to pedestrian vehicle segregation, to carry out a series of new desktop workplace transport assessments. We began with sites identified as high-risk and then moved to their medium and low-risk counterparts sites later on.

A safe route to taskWhile the safety, engineering and operations teams focused on workplace transport on each site, a wider cross-business project team developed the concept of a safe route to task. This included aspects such as visitor control, access control, security pre-arrival information, visitor passes, contractors authorities and permits to work, as well as workplace transport. The results of this crucial work were then shared with local operations and the on-site workforce. Their input was then taken into account to help us produce a more hands-on assessment.

On the more complex sites, and those where multiple solutions were identified, an external transport safety consultant was engaged to support the team in producing an agreed overall solution. The top priority was always to minimise pedestrian-vehicle interaction and deliver a safe route to task. Each assessment identified several potential improvements, which ranged from simple ideas like extra barriers and changes to the walkway, to more complex proposals including the following:

1 Traffic barriers and number plate recognition at Flixborough2 Reversing the entire one-way system at Langwathby to avoid blind-side reversing3 Moving staff parking areas at Cullompton and Uffculme4 Using traffic lights to control access at Cullompton5 Providing a new pedestrian entrance to the mill at Sherburn6 Moving the vehicle wash and extending the yard area at Cupar7 Encouraging visiting trucks to approach the site from a different direction at Sherburn

8 Installing barriers and a one-way system, along with marked parking bays at our head office in Peterborough

Into the futureAcross all AB Agri sites, more than £650,000 has been spent on workplace transport improvements. Two further UK sites still need to be completed and we also have plans for further expenditure in Frontier sites and in AB Agri China. In addition, we have shared our experiences with the rest of ABF and across the wider industry, through our trade association, AIC. We have also taken them into account as part of our continuing developments in Spain and Staffordshire. In China, we have tried to incorporate the overall safe route to task from the outset. As the plan is completed on each site, we will continue to reassess the residual risks, with a view to producing new site assessments that will identify further potential improvements. Coupled with the implementation of our wider safe route to task programme and our learnings outside of the UK, we are hopeful that we can ensure we never repeat the sad event that took place at ABN Northallerton in February 2014. We also hope that, by sharing our experiences with the wider ABF community and the wider agricultural supply industry, we can play a large part in helping to prevent similar accidents elsewhere. n

‘The top priority was always to minimise pedestrian-vehicle interaction and deliver a safe route to task’

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Chris Bulgen Manufacturing FLM, Allied Bakeries, Walthamstow [email protected]

We won the award for our Safety Matters Table and clock, introduced and championed at the bakery in 2015. Walthamstow Bakery had historically been a low-accident site but the

introduction of the new plant saw a worrying increase in the accident rate. Further investigation revealed little engagement in the hazard reporting process, at a time when we were also looking to introduce departmental safety teams and identify a comfortable place for people to go and report hazards. The introduction of the Safety Matters Table initially moved our average hazard reporting from three per week to 13. We have since moved on even further to a pleasing average of 31 reports per week. The table is now the hub of safety in Manufacturing and our teams use it to deliver briefs and hold discussions. The hazard books are kept on the table and allow for instant

An innovative safety measure introduced by Allied Bakeries, Walthamstow has been awarded first place at the prestigious International Food and Drink Industry Health and Safety Award 2016

feedback. The table is also situated right in the middle of the plant, making it a comfortable place for people to visit and demonstrating the importance of putting safety right next to the quality matters table. The low-cost Safety Matters Table initiative has helped make our bakery a safer place, as well as adding in a bit of fun. Our safety team came up with the idea of adding a clock to the table to count the time between hazards being reported. This has generated lots of interest and competition, as it was agreed the clock must not be allowed to reach 12 hours without any hazards being reported.

‘The table is now the hub of safety in Manufacturing and our teams use it to deliver briefs and hold discussions’

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Safety Matters Table scoops international award

Innovation rewardedThe International Food and Drink Industry Health and Safety Awards aim to recognise innovative projects that have produced a practical solution to, and made a positive impact on, occupational safety and health issues in the food and drink manufacturing industry. Our Safety Matter Table was one of twelve shortlisted entries that ranged from low-cost solutions to larger-scale projects that cost in excess of £100,000. We were delighted that it won such a fantastic accolade. n



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Jak Thomas National Health and Safety Manager, Allied Milling and Baking [email protected]

Allied Bakeries produce 11 million loaves weekly and deliver these to retail and other customers within 24 hours of baking. The scale of our operations is immense, with 10 plant bakeries

and nine distribution depots located throughout the UK. We have a business vision of being number one in our market by 2021. To meet this challenge we need the best possible bakery plant and equipment and infrastructure. Most importantly, everything must be as safe as it can be. It has taken six years of hard work to create an operations platform for the future success of our business, but we have fi nally reached our goal.

Future-proof investmentIn 2010 our manufacturing plants were typically 40 to 50 years old, heavily reliant on manual labour, had limited manufacturing capacity and were structurally ‘worn out’ and diffi cult to maintain. The site infrastructure needed refurbishment. Work equipment and the working environment were often not as safe as they might have been and certainly not as safe as they are now. We recognised the need for change and agreed with ABF to launch an ambitious £220m investment programme.

Allied Bakeries’ ambitious investment programme has created a safe, healthy and sustainable platform for future business operations

Work began in 2010/11 focused on strategic sites in Glasgow, Stockport, West Bromwich, Stevenage and London. Investment at these sites extended to:n Five bulk fl our handling systems, including 27 seventy-tonne silos and many miles of pipeworkn Five bread plants, including 13 mixers, six provers, ovens and coolers, 21 packaging machines and 3.7 million metres (2,300 miles) of cablen One roll plant and one bun plantn Two ‘breads of the world’ plants – initially for making sandwich thinsn Five sophisticated control systems capturing 50,000 pieces of information per second n Improvements to ingredient and dough handling systems and packaging capability

This was installed in modifi ed, extended or new buildings, along with new or refurbished infrastructure which included fl oors, access systems, lighting and air conditioning. Everything was designed to provide safer and healthier work places and work equipment for the future.

The key to success: world-class project managementThe scale of the challenge was enormous, starting with a roll plant at West Bromwich bakery in 2010/11 and fi nishing in late 2016 with installation and commissioning of a sandwich thins line at AB Stockport. Plus, the biggest challenge of all: management of the 753 individual contractors who between them worked over one million man-hours >>

Making great use of our dough

‘We have a business vision of being number one in our market by 2021. To meet this challenge we need the best possible bakery plant and equipment and infrastructure’

AB West Bromwich: new 70 tonne flour silos and ‘lots of pipework’!

Investment challenge: raising the roof at AB Glasgow



Significant Health and Safety benefitsExecution of the investment has delivered signifi cant Health and Safety benefi ts for manufacturing operations. Work equipment and the working environment are much improved resulting in a reduction in slip and trip and machinery-related accidents. Automation with robot technology has eliminated manual work from manufacturing resulting in fewer manual-handling injuries. There have also been environmental benefi ts, not least a 40% energy saving in the operation of new bread plants at invested sites. The project management learnings have been very clear and could help inform successful and safe delivery of future projects anywhere: -n Conform to agreed processes and do not compromise, even under time pressuren Base activity on realistic and achievable standards, systems and processesn Build competence into the project team to enable safe execution of the project

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to enable safe delivery of the investment. And the safety record during the execution of the project was as impressive as the contractor numbers: there were just two signifi cant contractor accidents, which is an equivalent accident frequency rate of <0.20 accidents per 100,000 hours worked – better than the run rate for accidents in continued bakery operations. The project management framework included feasibility, planning and approval processes and, importantly, detailed project execution and closure plans. Health and Safety was an integral part of each element of this framework. It was a particular consideration throughout execution of the project, enabling contractors and AB people alike to be kept safe for the duration at each site and, on completion, leaving in place safer and healthier work places and work equipment for future operating teams to work with. Health and Safety considerations during execution of the project included provision for:n Assessment of contractor Health and Safety credentials as part of their selectionn Site-specifi c contractor induction trainingn Strict adherence to the risk assessment and method statement process, including ‘permitting’ for high-risk activities, as a precursor to all contractor activityn A formal agreed process for supervision and control of contractor activity, including clearly defi ned responsibility and accountabilitiesn Regular inspections and audits, including daily pre-start contractor inspections to ensure safe conditions and to cross-check with method statements and permits before commencement of workn Daily management of contractor interactions during working hours through a ‘zonal defence system’ to eliminate interdependent risk from confl icting areas of work n Zero tolerance of non-compliance with method statements and safe behaviours

‘The biggest challenge of all: the management of 753 contractors, who between them worked 1,054,664 man-hours to enable safe delivery of our investment programme’

n Select the right contractors and manage them with rigour throughoutn Have the confi dence and courage to ‘lead’ and make the right decisions without compromising safety, however diffi cult that might be No one will thank you for fi nishing on time and in budget if someone gets hurt on the way! n

The chart below outlines the environmental benefi ts, which include 40% energy savings in the operation of invested plants:

AB London: shiny new - and safe - bread plant


Steve Bradley Group Safety & Environment Manager, ABF plc [email protected]

Alongside an impressive 190 factories we also operate several other significant operations including distribution warehouses across 50 countries and more than 300 Primark stores in

10 different countries. As a consequence, our main environmental impacts are: (1) the use of energy and the resultant emission of greenhouse gases; (2) the use of water; (3) the production and treatment of effluent and (4) the production and disposal of wastes. The scale of these impacts is significant and we take our environmental stewardship responsibilities very seriously. We have a moral and commercial duty to conserve and, where appropriate, enhance the environments in which we work. We are also committed to managing our emissions to air, land and water so as to not pollute. We are open about our environmental activities and publish a summary of our performance every year in our Corporate Responsibility Report and our annual updates. We also publish a detailed analysis of our climate change

In this inaugural edition of ABF Insight, we take a look at our biggest environmental impact; the use of energy. Our biggest energy users are our sugar operations, which use 82% of ABF’s total energy

impacts and water use on the website of CDP, one of the world’s biggest environmental disclosure charities. All this information is in the public domain. Our common unit of energy is kilowatt hours, however we report in terawatt hours (1,000 million kilowatt hours) as we are a big user. The graph above shows our total energy usage over the past five years. One of the great advantages of our sugar operations is the generation of our own steam and electricity using combined heat and power (CHP) technology. The sugar factory operations use both fossil fuels and renewable energy sources in large and highly efficient boiler systems. The renewable fuel comes mostly from the fibre of the sugar cane, called bagasse, which is left behind once the sugar has been extracted. In marked contrast to conventional power stations where the heat from burning fuels is wasted, we capture that heat and use it in our sugar factories. As a result of these CHP plants, we use around 80% of the energy in our fuel, compared with standard power stations which tend to extract around just 40% and waste the rest.

The heat is onHeat is key to a sugar factory as it is used to evaporate the thin solution used to extract sugar from beet and cane, turning it into a thick syrup from which the sugar crystals grow. The factories use a system of connected evaporators so that the steam generated by the first

evaporator can be used as the heat source for the second and so on through the series of evaporators. Through this process, 1 tonne of steam can evaporate as much as 5 tonnes of water. This saves energy and therefore cuts down on fuel and costs. At our Bury St Edmunds and Wissington sugar factories in the UK we use gas turbines to produce electricity. These turbines are like the jet engines used to power commercial aircraft but we totally enclose them so that the noise can’t be heard by our neighbours. Some of our CHP plants produce more electricity than we need so we export the excess to the national grids. In 2016 we exported 765 GWh, which is sufficient to power all the houses in a small town.

Weather patternsOur energy use is significantly affected by the weather patterns near our sugar factories. They determine the size and quality of our sugar beet and sugar cane crops. Given that we have sugar factories in the UK, Spain, China and in six African countries, it is quite possible in the same year to have droughts in some countries whilst others have high rainfall, heavy frost or inadequate sunshine levels. Our agricultural teams have been developing crops and agricultural practices which limit the worst of the effects of these weather fluctuations and provide more consistent feedstocks. Our next heaviest users of energy are the AB Mauri yeast factories, which between them account for 9% of ABF’s total energy usage. The remainder of ABF’s energy usage is then split between our other manufacturing and retail operations. Irrespective of how much energy our businesses use, they all look for commercially sensible energy efficiency projects. Over the last 12 months our businesses have invested more than £3 million in energy efficiency projects. In the next edition of HSE Insights, we will look at our greenhouse gas emissions. n

Energy at ABF

Environment

Effiient use of energy

1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

ABF energy consumption (TWh)

Agriculture

Retail

Grocery

Ingredients

Sugar



Rosalyn Schofield Director of Company Secretariat, ABF plc [email protected]

Our 2016 corporate responsibility (CR) report, which was published in early November, covers a vast range of ethical, social and environmental achievements by our operations around the

world. It also provides valuable insight into the environment in which we work and how we are impacting physically on our neighbours and surroundings. Our environmental duty is one of our

Rosalyn Schofield talks us through the latest corporate responsibility report and explains why working together and doing the right thing for its own sake are at the heart of our environmental activity

five stated pillars of corporate responsibility (the other four being our people, supply chain, neighbours and customers). For the first time we have reported on environmental issues in our different divisions, allowing us to include some extremely interesting figures that reveal volumes about how we work, and why our environmental policies and priorities are so important to us.

Doing right, regardlessOur activities come under significant scrutiny, which is only right as a major multinational company. We must ensure genuine transparency and eagerness to share our good working practices. While it might seem that some organisations pledge to do the right thing, we are firm believers in working ethically and co-operatively regardless of our place in league tables. We also take pride in our approach to make changes now, not at some nebulous time in the future. That is the essence of this year’s report; we wanted to measure what we have already done or put into place, rather than list pledges for things we hope to do in the future. For the first time, we have sought to quantify our social impact in order to show the benefits of our collective endeavour on people’s lives. This includes our own people, our suppliers, our neighbours and our customers.

The details can be found on the CR section of the plc website, but some examples are:1 Across our divisions, we helped more than 8,000 needy people by making product donations to food programmes, and boosted the livelihood of more than 11,000 smallholder farmers by delivering or funding programmes to improve productivity 2 We also shared the good news that our divisions collectively created more than 5,800 new jobs last year, and more than 22,000 of our people attended a training course or personal development workshop >>

Environment

‘Doing good every day’

‘Our environmental duty is one of our five stated pillars of corporate responsibility (the other four being our people, supply chain, neighbours and customers)’



To do this, we asked our businesses to collect data on a range of measures. This was the first year we had requested this data, which means there are gaps. It is our intention to expand this data in the coming years so that we can provide an even fuller picture.

Stakeholder feedback about the report has been good so far. We know that part of our responsibility as a multinational company is to be open to criticism and we welcome input and advice from all our stakeholders. We will not necessarily agree or follow it but we will always listen.

Sweet success The report is full of impressive figures and inspiring examples of how we have made a difference. One area where our emissions reductions have been significant has been in the traditionally energy-heavy area of sugar production. Our vision of being a world-leading sugar business is strengthened by our sourcing 59% of the energy we use in the division from sustainable origins. All the sugar beet supplied to British Sugar has been accredited by the prestigious Red Tractor Farm food standards organisation and we have donated 36 tonnes of sugar to food banks and charities in Spain alone. We are delighted that the activities of our sugar operations have improved the livelihoods of around 2,500 smallholders in Mozambique. All of this has been made possible by a sustainable, environmental approach intended to ensure long-term success and minimal ecological impact on the planet. We have also partnered with ethical sugar cane suppliers like Illovo to combat climate change and minimise water abstraction through irrigation and appropriate supply agreements with the relevant water authorities.

Innovate to improveWe have invested in anaerobic digestion. Our plant in North Yorkshire opened in October 2016 to generate biogas from garden and kitchen waste from neighbouring households. We estimate that this will

Environment

produce enough gas to meet the needs of more than 8,000 households per year -- a perfect case of working together for mutual benefit. In Finland, we upgraded the cooling system at our Roal factory using a heat pump to drive it in a similar way to domestic refrigerators and freezers. During the winter, the system uses cooler air from outside to take away the generated heat. This allows it to run on almost no electricity at all for four or five months of the year. Then there is our network of Primark stores, which has seen 30 million kWh of energy savings as a direct result of innovative energy saving initiatives. Not to mention an empowerment of more than 1,250 female cotton farmers around the world through our CottonConnect sustainability partnership.

Looking aheadAs we start another year, we will use the figures and stories that make up our corporate responsibility report to challenge ourselves further and to work towards an even greater positive impact on our environment and neighbouring communities. We will continue to be transparent in our reporting and proactive in our endeavours to work co-operatively with our customers, suppliers and other key stakeholders towards the common good. By working together we can have greater influence and impact than if we worked alone. n

‘Our vision of being a world-leading sugar business is strengthened by our sourcing 59% of the energy we use in the division from sustainable origins’


Environment

Martin MillerEngineering Manager, Allied [email protected]

We have reduced energy costs for the year by an average of 7.6% per production tonne/per site for gas and an average of 5.5% per production tonne/per site for electricity. Some

of the improvements have come from volume increases but the majority have been delivered by our site and central teams working through energy reduction plans. The target for 2015/16 was a 2% reduction in energy consumption and the target for 16/17 will stay the same at a further 2% reduction. Examples of some of the changes made to reduce energy consumption cover many aspects of

Allied Bakeries in the UK operates nine very modern and efficient bakeries which last year made almost half a million tonnes of bread and other baked products. Additionally, the company has 10 distribution depots

manufacturing; the biggest being the replacement of our lighting. We now specify LED-type lighting for our production areas and offices as these will typically use 40% less energy than a comparable fluorescent unit with a similar light output. These systems are also often coupled to movement sensors so that the lights only come on if the area is manned. This works particularly well in the stores and despatch areas. The Site Controls Engineering Group has put some intelligence into the systems that run the plants around the conveyors and product movement systems throughout the factories. For example, if there is no product for 30 minutes then the associated conveyors will shut down, saving both energy and wear on the plant. The teams have also built systems to put the ovens into ‘low fire’ if no product is present, which saves a large amount of gas.

Fan clubThe biggest continuous users of electricity in the plants are the fans in the bread coolers. The old systems employed fixed-speed fans to blow ambient air over the product. These used huge amounts of energy to run. We found that the amount of air required to flow around and cool down the product would change throughout the year as ambient temperatures changed with the seasons. For context, bread exiting the cooler needs to have a core temperature of below 27°C; this temperature is critical in reducing the potential for condensation during bagging. The site teams built new electrical control panels to give the ability to adjust and set the fan speeds to suit the product. Speeds required in spring, autumn and winter were found to be much lower than that required in summer, so by reducing the fan speed it

reduced the amount of energy required to cool the product. This investment outlay was repaid in less than eight months. In addition to the above, the teams also regularly review their plants to ensure they are running at optimum levels. Examples of their checks include ensuring the lagging on steam pipes is fit for purpose, carrying out ultrasonic leak testing and conducting drop tests for the compressed air systems as part of the regular maintenance activities.

What next?Over the next 12 months, the sites will go through a programme of changing some of the older air compressors and fitting vane type units that use much less energy to compress a cubic metre of air. Payback for these compressors is predicted to be just over 12 months from the electrical savings alone. Gas heating control systems for despatch areas have also been reviewed. All of the despatch areas have high-level gas fired heaters with operator controlled thermostats that are unreliable and open to being changed easily. By fitting an intelligent control system we found that the consumption of gas could be reduced by as much as 30% as the intelligent system gives a ‘boost’ at the start of the shift to raise the initial temperature (if required). Then, as the shift continues the amount of heating required is reduced. These systems will also pay back their outlay in just over 12 months and all depots are undergoing this upgrade. We will continue to challenge our energy usage at Allied Bakeries. Projects currently under research include Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems to generate site power and heat, as well as rolling out heat recovery systems on our ovens. n

‘We have reduced energy costs for the year by an average of 7.6% per production tonne/per site for gas and an average of 5.5% per production tonne/per site for electricity’

Energy savings at Allied Bakeries



Talking Point

Sarah Arrowsmith CEO, ABF Grocery [email protected]

The Health and Safety issues that alarm me the most are not so much the near misses or minor incidents such as a trip or stumble, but more the serious, significant risks that could lead to

loss of life. I’m talking about areas like working at height and in confined spaces or transport, both on site and when people are moving to and from their place of work. The secret behind effective Health and Safety protocols that stop accidents and catastrophes from happening is the simple but powerful truth that every single one of us must be responsible for not just our own safety, but that of our colleagues. It must

Sarah Arrowsmith, CEO, Grocery Division, ABF, discusses what keeps her up at night in terms of Health and Safety and explains why safety has to be at the top of everyone’s agenda

become second nature to all of us to not only watch out where we put our feet, or when we need to grab the handrail, but to warn our colleagues when we see them potentially putting themselves at risk too. Every single person working for us should feel confident enough to approach management about any safety concerns they may have. Every single manager must be prepared to listen and act on what they are being told. Keeping us all safe must be a team effort and a top priority for us all. Health and Safety procedures shouldn’t make the working day more complicated. Rather, they should fit seamlessly into the normal routine and quickly become a part of everyday life. For example, it’s no good spending a fortune erecting barriers around a car park to prevent people from being run over if they just ignore them and carry on walking across like they did before. We should be working out instead how to keep people safe by introducing systems that will actually be used. In the car park example, this could be lower speed limits or brightly painted pedestrian walkways.

Take action straight awaySafety should never be relegated to a box-ticking exercise. Nor should it be kept waiting. If a problem

arises, it’s not enough to simply order the equipment needed and then sit back and wait for it to arrive. Action must be taken straight away to put in adequate temporary measures. It’s no good having the best system in the world on order if another accident happens before it reaches us. The good news is that we’re getting much, much better at acting quickly, right across the business. Management are sitting down together far more frequently to discuss Health and Safety matters and any risks that arise or accidents that occur are swiftly analysed and acted upon. Clearly, this process becomes harder and harder as the more obvious safety risks are identified and closed off, but that is a good thing as it shows that we are making important progress.

Forklift featuresVarious safety trials are currently taking place across ABF businesses. For example, across all sites at Allied Bakeries reduced speed limits of five mph have been implemented for forklifts in the warehouse in a bid to prevent collisions and injuries. Meanwhile, at Allied Mills in Belfast and Allied Bakeries site at Walthamstow, forklift operators and warehouse colleagues are trialling proximity sensors that automatically triggers an alarm in the forklifts if pedestrians get too close. So my message to you all in this inaugural issue of ABF HSE Insights is to stay safe by looking out for yourself and your colleagues while you are at work or travelling to or from a site. We’re making excellent progress across the business, and we thank you all for that. However, your co-operation and common sense remain crucial to our continued success. n

Team Safety: It’s up to us all!

‘Keeping us all safe must be a team effort and a top priority for us all’

‘Safety should never be relegated to a box-ticking exercise’



Steve BradleyGroup Safety & Environment ManagerAssociated British Foods plcDesk: 0044 1733 427412Mobile: 0044 7901 670603Email: [email protected]

Louise HollowayHSE SpecialistAssociated British Foods plcMobile: 0044 7793 663033Email: [email protected]

Mihaela TitaHSE AnalystAssociated British Foods plcDesk: 0044 01733 427435Email: [email protected]

Contacts & Links

ABFwww.abf.co.uk

ABF Intranetwww.abfintranet.com

ABF Academywww.abfacademy.com

ABF Responsibilitywww.abf.co.uk/responsibility

Your viewsWe would love to receive your feedback on HSE Insights. Please send your feedback to [email protected]

The next issue of HSE Insights will be sent out in June 2017. If you have any stories or news that you would like featured in the next edition, please send your suggestions before the end of April 2017 to: [email protected]






www.abf.co.uk

www.abfintranet.com

www.abfacademy.com

www.abf.co.uk/responsibility

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