Best health and safety improvement
Health and safety is our number one priority. It is integral to our culture and is demonstrated by how we work together every day.
It is our joint responsibility and relies on us all taking an active part to not only keep ourselves safe but our colleagues too.
Our finalists for Best Health & Safety have shown real commitment to this ethos. They have continued to challenge unsafe behaviours, worked to find safer solutions and have helped foster a culture where health and wellbeing takes precedence above all else.
Kim Lykke Nielsen & the DieCut Team
Plant Manager & Team: Bo Madsen, Brian Knudsen, Camilla Hansen, Christian Jakobsen, Ditte Korntved, Gitte Fomsgaard, Hadi Zare, Heidi Poulsen, Helle B. Johansen, Jean Thomsen, Jesper B. Hansen, Jozsef Suvada, Karin Holländer, Karina Fich Sundahl, Lars Andersen, Lars Sørensen, Lene S. Rasmussen, Lone Hansen, Lisbeth Kjeldsen, Majken Mortensen, Martin Carsten Gorm, Salomeh Yavari Foroshani, Søren Halager Thomsen, Ulla Mikkelsen
DieCut Factory, Denmark, Packaging North
Our DieCut factory in Denmark has gone 15 years without a single LTA (Lost Time Accident). This incredible achievement could not have been reached without every person on site taking full responsibility for the safety of themselves and their colleagues.
The site has created a strong culture built on trust, support and respect for one another. Initiatives such as the Staff Association, local forums and taskforces ensure that wellbeing, diversity and inclusion play an important role in both their operations and their ongoing commitment to health and safety – a perfect demonstration of our Vision Zero approach.
Keith Waring & Wayne Machen
Baler Operator & Shift Manager
Featherstone, UK, Packaging North
Thanks to Keith and Wayne’s quick thinking and bravery, a forklift truck fire at our Featherstone site was extinguished before causing significant damage to a critical area of the site.
Not only did they act quickly to tackle the fire (preventing it from spreading from the engine bay to the highly flammable bale house) they also removed the truck’s gas bottle which avoided a far more disastrous outcome.
They went above and beyond what is expected of anyone faced with a fire of this magnitude but their extraordinary efforts were highly commended by the fire brigade who recognised how serious the fire would have been if it weren’t for their heroic actions.
Przemysław Jakubowski
Production/Process Engineer
CSC Mazovia, Poland, Packaging East
As the production manager at our Customer Service Centre in Mazovia since 2014, Przemysław has introduced many solutions and innovative systems to organise production in a more efficient and safer way.
Having noticed an increase in the number of temporary workers who weren’t familiar with our health and safety procedures and didn’t know where to find the correct information, Przemysław developed an effective solution to help colleagues identify important documents and instructions for each machine. He installed colour-coded manuals at every machine or workstation where colleagues can easily find all the information they need – proving to be a hugely successful way of preventing issues or accidents.
Thanks to this solution, health and safety awareness has significantly improved across the whole site and colleagues can now check what to do without leaving their position.
His persistence and dedication to health and safety has resulted in no accidents or near-misses for 7000 days and his brilliant solution was noticed by safety inspectors and is now being replicated across all DS Smith plants.
Sam Rodgers
Forklift Truck Driver
Ely, UK, Packaging North
Sam, a Forklift driver at our Ely site in the UK, played an integral role in improving the safety and efficiency of deliveries on site.
As part of the Fork Lift Safety Focus Group, set up to encourage new ideas to improve health & safety with volunteers from across the site, Sam was the perfect participant for this new way of working. He showed enthusiasm and positivity throughout the discussions and worked collaboratively to enhance our operations and maintain the highest safety standards.
After a near-miss incident, Sam went away and redesigned the rear yard to allow for a more efficient and safer flow of traffic which minimised interaction between vehicles and pedestrians – and most importantly – keeps our people safe. The yard is an extremely busy area and this was a huge undertaking but Sam’s attitude never wavered.
He demonstrated hard work, resilience and an innovative approach to problem solving to develop a solution that worked for everyone. He created multiple iterations of the new yard design, effectively working with colleagues, evolving the plans and perfecting each element of the yard to find the best result for the site.
