As we progress into the new year, we’re stopping to look back and celebrate our health and safety successes in 2016, before revealing our plans to maintain our excellent safety standards this year.
Undoubtedly last year was one of our best years yet for our health and safety standards. Working a total of 31,500 hours in 2016, we’re proud to say that throughout the year, RPS had zero lost time accidents (LTAs) and upheld our annual ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 accreditations with a positive response.
The audit reaffirmed we do operate according to national and international health, safety and environmental standards, which drive organisations to reduce their impact on the environment and community.
In addition to this fantastic news, we had a successful year of training on our new and existing state of the art machinery at our depot, based in Maltby, Middlesbrough.
This included the essential use of forklift trucks, our panel saw used to cut bespoke size chipboard sheets, and the ‘green machine’, which is both green in purpose and in colour. The aptly named apparatus is designed to dismantle pallets so we can successfully reuse the boards and blocks to repair damaged pallets.
Continuing our focus on training and development, we successfully completed our initial Business Improvement Training (BIT) in the summer. Our operatives took part in the NVQ level 2 qualification, which develops individuals’ abilities to identify and implement operational improvements to help create a safe working environment, increase productivity and take care of the general well-being of our staff. The BIT framework will be used throughout 2017 to encourage continual improvements.
Before our triumphant year came to an end, in December we succeeded in completing our traffic management plan to ensure the health and safety of all operatives and visitors. In addition to the mandatory PPE needed on site, the defined pedestrian walkways ensure all drivers are fully aware of pedestrians working and visiting our site.
Going forward into 2017, our aim is to ensure RPS meets the latest standard amendments. The changes implemented in the latest ISO 14001 standard focuses much more on the actions of managing directors in achieving their company’s environmental targets.
The new standard also considers the environmental impact of a business’ supply chain and the objectives that can be set to reduce its impact.
We are also continually improving our health and safety on site where possible and hope to introduce electricity usage monitors to analyse and reduce consumption levels.
To implement our plan, we will frequently review our procedures to ensure all possible measures are taken to make sure waste isn’t generated. Where waste is produced, we’ll mitigate this and with physical waste we always look at options to make sure it doesn’t end up in landfill.
As a conscientious and environmentally aware company, we do not expect to struggle to meet these new standards and we’ve already begun incorporating changes into our current health, safety and environmental management systems. We aim to become accredited with the updated ISO 14001 standard by mid-2017.
Watch this space!
How does your business engage its workforce on health and safety matters? Tweet us at @RPS_Limited and tell us about your processes.
