‘No fads, no trends, no buzzwords – just good management directly improving our business results,’ says group safety manager Peter Drillingcourt about DNV’s safety management system used at Golden Vale Dairies.
Peter Drillingcourt explains: We have an obligation to make sure our employees are safe, and through a systematic approach to safety we also monitor loss control and involve all employees and managers in the process.
When introducing the system Sexton Cahill, Human Resources Director, challenged Golden Vales managers and employees: Try to find one element in this system that does not add value to the company! DNVs safety management system looked good on paper, and after implementing it, some of the groups plants asked permission to go for higher safety levels than planned. Another initiative was to develop a Safety Improvement Scheme, where problems encountered in daily operations are recorded in a systematic manner and the management ensures funding for quick implementing of solutions.
Says Cahill: The positive effects are so obvious that both employees and managers want to take as much advantage of the system as possible, and the pace is adjusted to the individual plants needs.
According to Drillingcourt, the employees now think differently about their jobs. The influence over their own work and safety is greater, and systematically backed by funding of good initiatives.
Pinpointing responsibility
Sexton Cahill explains how it is done: In Golden Vale, the group as a whole is funding the safety work, but we let the individual plants carry their own insurance costs. That way, every plant can clearly see the direct consequences of their safety management work whether it is good or bad. This surely speeds the process, leading to lower insurance costs.
DNVs safety management system has created an awareness of loss control in a broader sense. For example, the reduction of lost days at one of the plants speaks for itself: 152 man-days in 1999, 24 in 2000 and just one so far this year (July 2001).
Says Peter Drillingcourt: There is a direct connection between a plants safety rating and its overall business results. Poor safety management is poor management and vice versa.
Risk management and quality
A dairy may not be the most obvious example of a high-risk business. But Golden Vale is much more than a dairy. In large-scale production there are always safety hazards. The industrial blow dryers used to make powder out of the milk are just one of the most obvious risk factors. Pressure tanks are another hazard. Last but not least, the quality of the products is crucial in the food industry.
Previously there was an ad-hoc approach to safety issues and there was no systematic reporting of incidents and what was being done to avoid them, says Cahill. But we could clearly see that our insurance costs were high and rising. Now everything is transparent and measurable. And things are more likely to be done when they are measured.
DNVs uniform and transparent system was chosen because it can be implemented in large companies with a variety of production systems. The methodology can be customised and at the same time the safety rating makes it transparent and uniform. As a result knowledge is less dependent on individuals instead it becomes an integral part of production.
Cahill explains, Our most critical plants now have a rating of level 3 or higher in the International Safety Rating System (ISRS). They will go on to achieve higher levels. At the same time we will gradually apply the DNV system to all our 20 plants. Golden Vale will also train its own auditors to carry out continuous evaluations, and periodically use DNVs external auditors.
A sound safety investment
The improved business results are now paying off. The Board of Golden Vale has accepted a bid from the three times bigger Kerry Group. Five years ago, no one would have touched us a former co-op. Now the bids are coming, because we have improved considerably. I know this methodology is one of the reasons, says Sexton Cahill, who underlines how safety has always been an integral part of all the groups investments. He is keen to bring this value into the bigger, merged company in due time.
I can guarantee that plants which are running good safety systems and scoring well on the ISRS will have the fewest industrial problems, the best working environment, managers who understand their business and objectives that are met.