Unite safety representative from Unilever is runner-up in major
food industry health and safety awards
29 September 2010
A Unite safety representative at the Unilever factory at
Burton-on-Trent was runner-up at the National Food and Drink Health
and Safety Awards held at the National Food and Drink Manufacturing
conference in Oxford from 28-29 September.
Keith Smith, Unite senior steward and safety representative at
the West Midlands plant - which makes Marmite and Bovril - came
second with his idea to boost the number of workplace safety
representatives and improve safety on site. The plant employs about
100 people.
Keith Smith has worked at the factory for 17 years in a number
of different production roles, and his current job is site services
co-ordinator.
He said: “I am honoured to have received this recognition of the
importance of health and safety from such a prestigious body, but
much of the credit must go to my fellow workplace reps who have
made this award possible.”
Keith Smith's entry was one of three shortlisted from over 20
other entries and he was awarded second place by the judges for his
project.
Jennie Formby, Unite's national officer for the food and drink
sector, said: “I am absolutely delighted that Keith's achievement
has been recognised in this way and congratulate him and his team
of safety representatives.
“This is an excellent example of how trade union safety
representatives and Unite union education can make a huge
difference in the workplace. An open, blame-free workplace
health and safety culture saves lives.
“This award is also a tribute to the other, often unrecognised,
contribution of union safety representatives whose tireless
voluntary activity halves the incidence of injuries and ill-health
at work across Britain.”
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
For further information, please contact Unite communications
officer, Shaun Noble on 07768 693940
Keith Smith's idea was to generate a proactive team of workplace
safety representatives at the factory who were trained and could
work well with the management to help ensure a safe site working
environment and at the same time encourage safety awareness in all
the employees at the factory.
With the full support of the human resources director, he developed
a Hazard Spotting Programme. He initiated a recruitment campaign
for volunteer safety representatives and Unite, the largest union
in the country, provided on-site training for these safety
representatives in the new programme. It was initially
piloted in one area, and then rolled out to the whole site.
Safety reps carrying out their regular inspections - or hazard
spotting - report these to their line manager and this information
is recorded on a spread sheet. Immediate remedial action is
taken, if possible, otherwise a firm completion date is entered and
this can be monitored directly by the safety representatives
concerned, so they feel fully involved in the process.
The Hazard Spotting Programme has also raised awareness
generally amongst employees who feel more able to raise health and
safety concerns without fear of blame. As a result, there has
been a fivefold increase in near miss reporting on site since
December 2008 and 75 per cent of these issues have been resolved
through the ongoing hazard spotting programme.
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