Case Study: Warehouse Safety

Client
A leading North American food and beverage manufacturer.

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​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.

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​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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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• 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.

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​Even more remarkable, however, was what happened within the team.

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​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.