Case Study: Safety
Safety Excellence in Food & Beverage Warehousing
Client
A leading North American food and beverage manufacturer.
The Challenge
The manufacturer's warehousing division had persistently moderate injury rates and was in danger of missing safety goals. Traditional safety programs were already in place but safety incidents persisted.
Our Approach
When traditional (standard) safety programs are already in place, non-standard solutions need to be implemented. As a rule, non-standard solutions increase the risk of errors and injuries. This apparent conflict required special attention and execution.
We started by evaluating every problem as a safety problem. We integrated all operational data into our analysis, not just near-miss and injury data. We then expanded our near-miss definition to include every incidence of rushing, frustration, fatigue, complacency, and habit disruption.
This wide net then returned a massive set of incidents to evaluate. We set out to systemically address every incident returned in our expanded set of near-miss data. After identifying all relevant factors that were present in each near-miss incident, we completed a root cause evaluation.
Applying the Solution
After a thorough examination, we redesigned the entire safety function across a series of front-line teams, maintaining a sharp focus on the highest-risk areas of the warehouse.
-
Conducted detailed process and risk mapping sessions directly with the operators who performed the work every day.
-
Designated and trained inspectors to engage in targeted daily interactions to engage the team.
-
Built practical, frontline-owned audit protocols and preventive controls that addressed the root causes of the near-misses.
-
Implemented trainings and daily engagements among the safety team and supervisors across the organization.
-
Executed daily one-on-one audits that verified knowledge, understanding, and actual adherence.
Results
After a short period of time the organization achieved substantial improvement on its safety goals. Roughly 6 months into the new year, they were on track for a perfect "no recordable" year.
Even more remarkable, however, was what happened within the team.
The operators and supervisors who participated in the process-mapping and audit design became so enthusiastic about how quickly problems were being solved that they began teaching the methodology to each other. Within weeks we observed multiple self-formed teams autonomously creating their own process maps, identifying gaps, and developing new audits — all on their own time and initiative. Employees started bringing completed process maps to the safety team, asking for the audits to be implemented because “this process actually fixes things.”
What began as a targeted safety intervention evolved into a self-sustaining culture of proactive problem-solving.
See How We Help Manufacturers Build Consistent Execution
This case study demonstrates how systematic process reinforcement can improve safety performance. Learn how our 5-step approach helps manufacturers reduce operational instability and build safer operations.