Briggs Equipment puts the accent on safety: Company aims to eliminate foreseeable accidents at the workplace

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the various ways in which UK materials-handling service provider Briggs Equipment is seeking to eliminate foreseeable accidents in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

Explains the initiatives that the company has taken among its own employees, plus one it has run for home-improvement center and material-handling partner Homebase. Reveals why Briggs decided to sponsor the Forklift Truck Association’s most recent safety conference.

Findings

Details the importance of ensuring that all forklift-truck operators are fully trained to use the equipment and are aware of the company’s latest health and safety procedures; making certain that temporary workers have been given a thorough induction and have been fully trained to use the equipment and are aware of the site’s health and safety procedures; using the most appropriate of the technology available to make forklift trucks safer; and putting in place an anonymous, easy-to-report method to help workers to speak up about accidents or hazards in the workplace.

Practical implications

Explains that Briggs aims to achieve a new organizational culture that places the emphasis on safety, but accepts that this cannot be created overnight.

Social implications

Reveals that the latest Health and Safety Executive figures reveal a 4 per cent rise in serious accidents involving forklift trucks – the first rise in two years, which may result from some businesses cutting corners to reduce costs.

Originality/value

Details the numerous and wide-ranging initiatives that one company is taking to improve workplace safety.

Citation

(2014), "Briggs Equipment puts the accent on safety: Company aims to eliminate foreseeable accidents at the workplace", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 22-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-07-2014-0083