Tufcot’s Health & Safety Team

Health and Safety is a vital part of any business but especially so in manufacturing.

Our employees are in regular contact with potentially dangerous machinery, substances and materials so it is essential that we do everything we can to minimise the risk of accident or injury.

Our Health and Safety team is headed up by our Quality, Health & Safety Manager, David Green (Tech IOSH), who is supported by Beth Bagshaw who recently achieved her NEBOSH Health and Safety Qualification.

David and Beth have worked hard to create a culture that promotes health and safety.

This has been done in many ways including regular health and safety training, the correct use of safety equipment and a detailed health and safety program.

At Tufcot, we have a very good safety record.

We have only had two incidents in the last four years that have been reportable under the RIDDOR regulations. Both of those were minor incidents and only became reportable under the seven day rule.

But like all manufacturing businesses, we do have a few very small scale accidents and incidents which are recorded within the company Accident Book.

For the last nine years, we have been monitoring the times of the day that these incidents happen.

Over the years, as shift patterns and working practices have changed, we have seen a corresponding change in the times when incidents are more prevalent.

We refer to these as “Danger Times” and have actively sought to reduce the risk to our employees at these times.

At the start of the COVID pandemic, we made the decision to split break periods to avoid large numbers congregating together.

The latest analysis of the timing of incidents shows how the hour leading up to the combined break periods and then the hour immediately after account for a high proportion of those incidents.

We are feeding this information back to our workforce and believe its worth all employers carrying out a similar incident/time analysis to identify possible Danger Times across their operations.

This is just one example of how reviewing the accidents in your workplace can lead to actionable ways to improve the health and safety of employees.