Safety 21
the potential for accidents is high: moving
vehicles, heavy loads, speedy turnarounds,
sophisticated machinery and - most hazardous
of all - human error can all spell danger.
SO IT’S VITAL that the company makes safety one of
its top priorities to ensure that no one is injured and
that business can continue efficiently and without inter-
ruption.
dures over 30 years, drawing on experience, customer
feedback and regulator requirements to get the best
practices in place.
And in this essential field Gist, as part of The BOC
Group, already has a head start.
“ As part of The BOC Group our goals and targets are
set in the context of the gases industry, therefore the
standards we are expected to achieve are, in general,
superior to most organisations within the logistics envi-
ronment,” said Mark Beaumont, Gist’s Senior Loss
Prevention Manager.
But, for Gist, simply being better is not good enough:
the company has ambitions to be world class in safety
and is working hard towards that goal.
But safety is not something just for experts and pro-
fessionals: for Gist people it has to be part of everyone’s
working life, a subject that is always on their agenda,
day in and day out.
One of the initiatives designed to help the company
 
US chemical giant acknowledged as world leader in
safety, conducted a representative audit. DuPont
reviewed the head office in Basingstoke and two
representative depots to find out how policies are being
carried out on the ground and to point out any areas
where there is room for improvement. The results are
expected shortly and will be acted upon.
Mark said: “The idea was not for DuPont to look so
much at our paperwork - because paperwork on its own
doesn’t prevent injuries– but at our people. They were
seeing how our managers manage, whether people
understand the reasons for safety and their
responsibilities as individuals and how we manage non-
Gist people, for example agency personnel and contrac-
tors. They were seeing how we really implement our poli-
cy and howwe motivate our people to go beyond the
paperwork.”
tion, which is overseen by the British Standards
Institute. It is implemented by fully trained loss preven-
tion co-cordinators who ensure each depot achieves full
compliance with the Gist’s policy.
Mark added: “One of our guiding principles is to cre-
ate a culture where the safety of each individual is
recognised as the responsibility of all employees. And
whilst we believe our management systems are robust,
we also aim to win the hearts and minds of our people.
“We are working towards getting people to take
responsibility and to be empowered to put things right.
This can range from anyone on site picking up a ringing
phone rather than walking by or correctly placing
a pallet that is incorrectly stacked – whatever the indi-
vidual’s job may be - to pulling someone up when they
are doing something wrong and coaching them in the
right way.
“Analysis has shown that 81% of all our serious acci-
dents are not caused by the condition of the equipment
but by people taking unsafe acts. Of the remaining 19%,
where equipment was a significant factor, these could
also have been avoided if the person was more aware of
their surroundings or took precautions, for example,
doing a pre-use inspection of a roll cage to identify it
only had three wheels.
employee involvement and safety awareness include:
national driver and warehouse safety forums; loss pre-
vention committees and accident review panels on all
depots; management performance contracts which
involve loss prevention actions; and monthly reviews by
business directors.
And it’s how they perform as individual locations that
matters to Gist’s customers. One of the most successful
safety sites is Westfield in Scotland which was one of
the two locations also audited by DuPont. It recently
won a prestigious safety award from the British Safety
Council and was one of only 1000 winners from large
and small businesses across the UK in the public and
private sectors. Winners must have lower than average
accident rates, good safety policies and safety plans and
commitment to health and safety at the highest board
level. They must detail their health and safety officers’
qualifications and provide details of significant advances
in health and safety for the year, plus provide notifica-
tion of any impending health and safety legal action.
Westfield management have not only taken head
office directives on board but have also taken safety
into their own hands with some home-grown initiatives
which are so successful that other sites are now adopt-
ing them too.
the Swan, in Westfield’s case – to personify safety and
make it fun and accessible. Another is the Peak
Awareness campaign which was launched two years
ago to draw attention to the rise in accidents during
the period from October to December – the busiest
time of year with the highest number of people on
site. This raising of awareness saw the location
scoring a dramatic 36 per cent reduction in accidents
in 2000 and a further 12.5 per cent reduction the
following year.
A third initiative is the establishment of safety man-
agers of the month. These are volunteer managers who
are given time off their regular duties to choose a safe-
ty theme and promote it among the workforce. They
also carry out inspections, review the quality of accident
investigations, and hold focus groups with individual
shifts.
Westfield’s general manager Deirdre Duncan said:
“Health and safety may not be thought of as a sexy
subject, so we try to introduce a lighter element and
make it something everyone is interested in.”
Cumbernauld was the second site scrutinised by
DuPont. In the past it has had a higher incidence of
accidents than other Gist sites - something general
manager Ian Rennie is determined to put right. Steps
have already been made towards success: at the time of
writing the site has had no lost time accidents this year.
He introduced monthly loss prevention meetings
hosted by different departments – operations, transport,
warehouse, maintenance and administration as well as
site-wide meetings – to give employees a chance to air
their views and make suggestions and focus on areas
specific to that department.
He said: “These meetings underpin everything that
we do and produce action plans for us to work on. We
will not rest in our pursuit of safety. We don’t want acci-
dents as a result of complacency or negative behaviour
or not following procedures. We want people to know
that attention to safety is not a tag-on – it’s part of your
daily life.”
embraced this thinking with gusto and produces a mag-
azine for colleagues called the Cumbernauld Indicator
to get the safety message across.
“In the last 18 months there has been a strong focus
on loss prevention and this is becoming more visible on
site with things like posters and newsletters. People are
taking notice and there is no doubt that everyone is
much more safety conscious,” he said.
22 Safety
several areas it was the first to introduce
engineering controls on vehicles to reduce
safety risks or improve environmental
performance.
standard requirements for commercial
manufacturers’ specification :
SUZIE BOOMS
the cab and trailer during coupling and
reduces the risk of injury. The booms also
reduce Suzie damage.
apply the trailer handbrake when the air line
is attached. This prevents the trailer from
rolling away in cases where the driver forgets
to apply the trailer handbrake manually.
SLEEPER CAB GLASS
side windows to improve visibility and
reduce vehicle accidents.
FISH EYE MIRRORS
NEARSIDE MIRROR ADJUSTMENT
adjust the mirrors from inside the cab. This
improves the likelihood the driver will adjust
the mirrors.
ing systems before they became legal. The
business currently has on trial EBS systems,
the next generation of ABS.
SEAT BELTS
their use is actively encouraged.
TRAILER ACCESS
access and egress.
CONTROL UNIT POSITIONS
less risk of personal injury due to falls.
REVERSING BLEEPERS
CATALYTIC PARTICULATE TRAPS
particulate traps on the tractor units which
significantly reduce the amount of diesel
particulate emitted during use.
lubricating oil. This oil improves fuel con-
sumption and extends the service period.
RADIO CUT-OUT
opened, reducing noise pollution at quiet
periods.
efficiency.
the life of tyres four times. This reduces the
amount of tyres for disposal.
MOBILE TELEPHONES
communication equipment are banned from
being used in Gist commercial vehicles and
company cars whilst the vehicle is moving.
SELF-LUBRICATING FIFTH WHEEL
fifth wheel. If successful, this will negate the
need for grease on the fifth wheel. Grease
is a hydrocarbon, similar to diesel.
GAS POWERED UNITS
Hemel depot. These emit less particulate,
NOx and SO2 than conventional diesel
tractor units.
reduce noise and non-slip GRP surfaces are
used to reduce noise from roll cage pallets.
QUIET MOTOR PACKS
lift motor packs which reduce the noise
when delivering during night time periods.
AUTO LUBE TOP-UP
cating oil top-up equipment. This negates
the need for drivers to manually top-up,
thereby reducing excessive oil consumption
and spills.