Why is H&S management so important for companies and how can centralised reporting help?
According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) UK, every working day in the UK at least one person is killed and over 6,000 are injured at work. These Health & Safety (H&S) risks, that can be even higher outside the UK, affect all organisations.
There are many reasons for companies to pay close attention to H&S. First, there is a social imperative that all employees should be able to work in a safe environment and companies must also comply with regulations. In addition, good H&S management can reduce business risks and costs as well as improving your brand.
Even organisations that are investing significant time and effort into managing H&S often have trouble measuring and reviewing performance unless they have readily available, timely and accurate data at their disposal. This is the position Fenner Group found itself in early 2013.
As a manufacturer, Fenner looks for and promotes H&S as a key element in the culture of each of its operations. Fenner has an H&S Management System Framework, which provides Group-wide structure and guidance to ensure continuous improvement within the unique culture and autonomy of its operating units.
In line with Fenner’s culture of delegated accountability, responsibility for managing H&S and developing local H&S management systems resides with local management. This ensures the systems are appropriate to the local culture, organisation and regulatory environment, whilst seeking to meet best practice standards. As a Group, Fenner has manufacturing operations in 34 locations together with numerous service branches around the world. This experience is similar to many other Greenstone clients and means that data collection at the local level for management reporting can be challenging.
Between late 2012 and April 2013, Fenner worked with Greenstone to successfully roll out the Environment module of Greenstone’s non-financial reporting solution which was followed by Fenner looking for a more robust way to collate its H&S data. Greenstone’s H&S module was an easy choice as the platform was already familiar to the business.
Paul Sexton, head of HSE at Fenner says; “All our users tell us how simple the H&S module is to use, which has led to more accurate and timely reporting, resulting in an increased confidence in the data and transforming our management insight on performance.”
Since the roll-out of Greenstone’s H&S module, Fenner has seen a significant drop in Lost Time Injuries. This demonstrates that the stronger focus and visibility that Fenner has placed on gathering regular and robust H&S data across the organisation has paid off for its employees and the business.
Having tackled H&S, Fenner is now reviewing its other non-financial KPIs and will use Greenstone as its secure non-financial data solution. Key factors for extending Fenner’s use of Greenstone were the system’s ease of use and data security
For more information on Greenstone’s Health & Safety module, click here.
