Excellent safety practices from DFDS Seaways Immingham have landed an international award.
The health, safety, security and environment department, looking after more than 500 people at the 175-acre port set-up, has been named Risk Team of the Year.
It has been awarded by the International Institute of Risk Safety Management at its Risk Excellence Awards 2022.
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The judges noted achievements, including reducing incidents by 23 per cent last year alone and gaining a 25 per cent increase in hazard and near miss reporting.
It followed a safety communications campaign, encouraging employees to “report everything”.
DFDS Seaways manages 35 weekly sailings from Port of Immingham, and is one of the largest local employers, with operations ranging from freight shipping, warehousing, and automotive activity across its rail-connected site, with seven berths and 10 warehouses.
Steve Price, director of health, safety and security at DFDS Seaways, said: “We are delighted. It’s a great honour and testament to the excellent work which has been done by the team over the last 12 months to continue to drive safety improvement across all levels of the business. This work has laid firm foundations for embedding the safety culture at DFDS Seaways Immingham well into the future."
The campaign ran across digital screens within work facilities, posters, the company intranet and safety messaging forums. New site safety signage was also installed to bring consistency to the messaging, and a monthly newsletter - PortSide - was launched to communicate the key messages and provide a platform for employees to channel their personal stories and achievements.
Personal safety commitments for all roles within the business were also introduced, aimed at improving safety behaviours, and the introduction of a new risk management maturity model, called RM3, was adopted, which allows for meaningful comparisons across departments, creating opportunities to share best practice and to create consistency across the business in dealing with risk assurance issues.
During the period, a major overhaul of the company’s safety management system and associated standards was also completed.
Other initiatives included a new online system for the use, handling and storage of substances hazardous to health, and the introduction of a new competence management system, as well as risk assessment training and a review of emergency arrangements across the site in collaboration with internal and external partners.
It came as £10,000 was donated to Cancer research UK by Phillips 66 Humber Refinery after five million safe work hours was achieved.
Darren Cunningham, general manager, said: “It’s amazing we have achieved five million safe work hours, especially with the complexity of our refinery. Health and safety is our top priority and we strive to develop a safety culture across our workforce.”
The high-rated Control of Major Accident Hazards site boasts a state-of-the-art safety training facility - a warehouse-size building equipped with hands-on training tools and a virtual reality room, among other modern technologies.
Mr Cunningham added: “With this achievement, it is with great pleasure to donate money to Cancer Research UK which will help to fund vital research to save lives.
“Our working group decided to donate to this fantastic charity as everyone felt they had been touched by cancer in some way.”
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