Leeds Brewery reduces on-site accidents by 56% in 2010

Leeds Brewery has seen a dramatic improvement in its Safety, Health and Environment performance. The impressive figures are the result of a sustained effort over the last four years, where emphasis has been placed on reducing accidents in the brewery

Several consequences arose from the situation. The brewery lost its OHSAS 18001 certification, an internationally recognised standard for Occupational Health and Safety management systems. The business was losing confidence in its ability to manage health and safety risks, and it seemed as though it was a matter of time before the brewery attracted adverse publicity. The state of affairs was untenable and it was clear that new methods were required to tackle the problem.

Therefore, a partnership was formed between the management team, unions and team representatives to establish a way going forward that would reduce the number of accidents and improve overall safety, health and environmental performance. The decision was taken to try to embed Health & Safety and Environmental expertise on shifts by up-skilling a member of each shift team to become:

Health and Safety facilitators
Environmental facilitators

The facilitators have been fundamental in providing the engagement of the workforce in the health, safety and environmental aspects of the brewery. Working alongside a dedicated management team the facilitators have utilised all their newfound skills from SH&E education (e.g. NEBOSH, IEMA, etc) in effectively minimising risk in order to reduce accidents and the severity of the accidents we do have.

The brewery regained its OHSAS 18001 certification a year later, and has succeeded in achieving a sustained reduction in accidents each year since 2006. The brewery achieved its best results to date in 2010, with only 15 accidents taking place.

Challenging and recognising each other's safety related behaviours through an Accountable Safety Culture (ASC) system alongside monitoring and closing near misses has been fundamental to a dramatic reduction in accidents and have seen the brewery go 16 months without a lost time injury.

The health and safety of our employees Is of paramount importance to the Carlsberg Group. No one should come to harm as a result of our operations. Leeds brewery is to be commended for the collaborative approach that it took in an effort to improve its safety, health and environmental performance. The sustained improvement in its performance and the remarkable results from 2010 are an achievement that it can justifiably be proud of.