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#1 Posted : 17 March 2008 15:56:00(UTC)
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Posted By Paul L Williams Dear all, We have recently gone over 12 months without a LTA, which is a great achievement when compared to our past history. This in my opinion is not a stroke of luck but has been the result if a continuous improvement drive that has consisted of weekly safety sampling, monthly H&S audits with Director involvement and safety behavioural training. As a way of marking this milestone our MD wants to celebrate this by rewarding the workforce, somehow? I know that this accident record could be lost tomorrow if something happened but it is really in recognition of the last 12 months being free of LTA's. Any ideas on how I could celebrate this (without starting a culture of not reporting) or what you may have done to mark good performance would be greatly appreciated. Regards Paul
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#2 Posted : 17 March 2008 16:29:00(UTC)
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Posted By Philip Beale "without starting a culture of not reporting" i think that is where the difficulty lies make to big a deal about no LTA accidents then everyone will be in fear of breaking the record which is much the old way of doing H&S. Can't it be sold as a massive reduction in accidents and improved near miss reporting. maybe a free breakfast for all employees if you have an onsite canteen. Dvd player for the person who reported the most near misses etc. a big sloppy kiss from the director to each employee. Phil
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#3 Posted : 17 March 2008 16:40:00(UTC)
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Posted By D H Why not continue the good work and consult the workforce? Ask them what they would like and decide once you get their responses.
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#4 Posted : 17 March 2008 21:01:00(UTC)
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Posted By tony ryan Have you considered applying for an award for the organisation? Then celebrate the achievement with a formal method of recognition of the workforces achievements. Tony
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#5 Posted : 17 March 2008 21:04:00(UTC)
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Posted By Barry Cooper Paul We recently celebrated 12 months without a LTA (1 day or more) and have decided to give every employee a first aid kit for home/car. I know some will say you need to have an accident to use a first aid kit, but what the heck, it's the thought that counts. Two years ago when we won a company H&S award we gave everyone a fleece jacket with "safety award" embroidered on it. This was very well received, and many are still proud to wear it. Barry
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#6 Posted : 18 March 2008 04:34:00(UTC)
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Posted By Merv Newman No, please ! not a first aid kit, nor an extinguisher or a fire blanket. These are what I call "poisoned presents". Must-haves but you never ever want to have to use them. Breakfast and a big sloppy kiss from the director are good ideas (depends on the director) but also a small souvenir of the occasion. On my car key ring I have a token which replaces the £1 (or €1) coin in the shopping trolley. Every week it reminds me of a happy occasion. (really, it does) We used to give, for 12 months without lost time injury (later without even a "medical treatment") a gift for the family. Gifts were chosen from a mail order catalogue, up to £50 cost to the company (i.e. ex vat, ex discount for bulk buying) and were something that you could take home, use frequently, and would last. Over 15 years since I left that company but I still have a coffee machine (20 years old and still going), a battery charger and a garden hose. (trickle feed from recovered rainwater). The B&D drill died years ago. Don't give cash or book tokens. They get spent and forgotten. Don't worry too much about "under-reporting". If the injury is "worth" (this is where I get slayed) a day off then you will know about it pretty fast. (though I have known a bad back to be "saved" for the necessary day or two) Gifts were chosen by a group of employees a week or so in advance, confirming fax sent at midnight, delivered during the day and presented by the director at the site gate as you left for home. Congratulations on reaching the big "365" (or is it "366" this year ?) Merv
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#7 Posted : 18 March 2008 10:11:00(UTC)
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Posted By Darren (Daz) Fraser I still have a zip up fleece (now used for walking the dog, and about 10 years old) from a previous employer, stating 1 million hours worked LTA free, with the company logo and my name embroidered on it (matching the company supplied clothing that all employees wore). Everyone who worked for that million hours was given a fleece. Other ideas floated around at the time included a mug, free breakfast, extra days holiday, sweatshirt etc, but the fleece was felt to be the best solution (it was November at the time).
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#8 Posted : 18 March 2008 12:22:00(UTC)
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Posted By Jeff73 Hi Paul, Why not try a charity initiative. I don’t know what your company do but there will be plenty local schools and / or charities in the area keen to work with you. Ideas could include cleaning up an area, decorating a nursery, providing hi-vis vests (with company logo and 365 LTA logo) for kids walking to school. In my experience the work force love it and helps with team building (make sure the directors get involved) and excellent PR. A good CSR case study if your company are in to that. Cheers, Jeff
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#9 Posted : 18 March 2008 22:17:00(UTC)
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Posted By Barry Cooper Sorry Merv, I did try to persuade the mill director "Please not a first aid kit", but he wouldn't listen. Barry
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#10 Posted : 18 March 2008 22:27:00(UTC)
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Posted By William Why should we celebrate not hurting anyone for a year or even acknowledge it. Please do not go down the route of applying for awards and then becoming obsessed with the numbers at the expense of accidents and incidents of not being reported. To give an example of this, i will advise you of a couple of incidents which happened recently. One was when a worker was smashed in the face to his severe injury by lifting chains. The worker in question was persuaded back into work after the weekend for light duties, he had not been off for 3 working days so it was not a 3 day injury and non reportable. 1 week later another employee damaged his knee in another incident and required hospital treatment and was also persuaded to go back to work after the weekend, but he went off sick after 2 days as he was unable to climb stairs on crutches. This was then an 3 day injury. If this employee had remained at work then this would not have been reportable and one of the purposes of reporting under riddor is to look for businesses who are harming employees and the above was more about fixing the figures than anything else. You wouldn't do something like this to keep your celebrated "ZERO LTA status"...would you?
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#11 Posted : 18 March 2008 22:57:00(UTC)
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Posted By Barry Cooper I get your point William, but we have just celebrated achieving 365 (now 400) days. It is an achievement that has never been done in the company's history, so it is worth celebrating. With regard to fiddling the figures, I would never allow it, as it achieves nothing and the 365 is worthless Barry
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#12 Posted : 18 March 2008 23:01:00(UTC)
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Posted By Tim William, Regarding the injuris you mentioned, if the person cannot do there normal duties then it becomes reportable, me thinks
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#13 Posted : 19 March 2008 06:54:00(UTC)
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Posted By GregW Previously i worked in Aus. where we had a site with 4 years LTA free (preety good acievement). as for the failure to report we simply had the culture of reporting then providing help to ensure that people very not further injured. then if they did not report and later told us of an injury we gave them a first and final written warning for failure to obey procedure and breach of company policy. As an aside, far from seeming harsh when an injury did end up turning common law the clear policy and demonstration of discipline showed a duty of care to the employees. Not sure if this has been tested in the UK yet. Greg
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#14 Posted : 19 March 2008 10:42:00(UTC)
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Posted By Merv Newman William, I think you have the wrong end of a very sharp stick. I accept that we could discuss over- or under-reporting, "return to work" policies and practices and so on BUT achievements MUST be celebrated and rewarded. The achievement may often not be 100% honest but if progress has been made then it represents a victory and merits something to add value to that event. Just ignoring it devalues the effort which some or many people have put into working safely. I worked for many years for a company in which it was a cardinal sin to work unsafely. It was also a cardinal sin not to report an accident or a near miss. And yes, we had a "return to work" policy but never had to use it. The "rewards", apart from the 12-month award mentioned above, were many, tangible and intangible : approval openly expressed by supervisors and managers, cups of coffee, a smile or a pat on the back .... Recognition + Reward = Reinforcement Merv PS do Cardinals sin ? Must have a word with the Pope.
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#15 Posted : 19 March 2008 12:16:00(UTC)
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Posted By Robert K Lewis Merv All have sinned and fallen short - Catholic theology recognises that even Popes sin even though they may be infallible in very resrticted circumstances, contrary to popular belief. Nice bottle of Pouilly Fuisse awaiting me tonight, I like being rather Dry!! :-) Bob
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