EcoOnline Case Studies Revamping Health and Safety Processes: A Case Study of AB Agri and Sypol

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	Revamping Health and Safety Processes: A Case Study of AB Agri and Sypol EcoOnline

Revamping Health and Safety Processes: A Case Study of AB Agri and Sypol

EcoOnline

Applicable Industries	Chemicals Healthcare & Hospitals
Use Cases	Inventory Management Onsite Human Safety Management
Services	System Integration Training
Challenge	AB Agri, a rapidly growing agricultural business operating across the entire food supply chain, was facing a significant challenge in managing its Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) assessments. The company had been managing COSHH in-house using databases and safety data sheets. However, due to its continued growth and operational expansion, this manual process had resulted in a significant backlog of assessments that needed to be written, putting a strain on the health and safety team’s resources. The approach also meant that COSHH assessments were being written from a single risk view, rather than reflecting the actual work processes taking place across the business. With operations spanning 17 sites across five countries, the team at AB Agri also identified a significant amount of process duplication. Each COSHH assessment took an average of 60 minutes to write, leading to health and safety managers spending a considerable amount of time updating and reviewing existing assessments. It became increasingly difficult to keep control of a dynamic situation that was impacted by changing legislation, product suppliers, and other external factors. Read More
About Customer	AB Agri is a unique community of leading agricultural businesses that operate across the entire food supply chain. As the agricultural division of Associated British Foods, its focus is to add value and drive profit for partners all along that chain by improving the sustainability of food production. The company has a rapidly growing business that had historically managed COSHH in-house, using a series of databases and safety data sheets. However, due to its continued growth and operational expansion, the company needed a more efficient solution to manage its COSHH assessments. With operations spanning 17 sites across five countries, the company was facing a significant challenge in managing its health and safety processes. Read More
Solution	In June 2017, AB Agri chose Sypol’s COSHH Management System (CMS) to support their COSHH management strategy. The CMS provided a robust and scalable solution that enabled AB Agri to create and manage COSHH assessments more efficiently across multiple sites. Sypol’s team took responsibility for uploading hundreds of existing assessments to the new system, allowing AB Agri to hit the ground running. The Sypol team also trained AB Agri's team on how to use the software, create assessments, and structure the system in a way that supported their requirements, both from a group and individual site level. The CMS was flexible enough to reflect the differing needs of AB Agri's operation while standardising the way in which COSHH was managed and reported across the business. The CMS system helped AB Agri to achieve compliance more effectively while also reducing the amount of time staff had to spend inputting information into the system. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Applicable Industries

Chemicals

Healthcare & Hospitals

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Onsite Human Safety Management

Services

System Integration

Training

Challenge

AB Agri, a rapidly growing agricultural business operating across the entire food supply chain, was facing a significant challenge in managing its Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) assessments. The company had been managing COSHH in-house using databases and safety data sheets. However, due to its continued growth and operational expansion, this manual process had resulted in a significant backlog of assessments that needed to be written, putting a strain on the health and safety team’s resources. The approach also meant that COSHH assessments were being written from a single risk view, rather than reflecting the actual work processes taking place across the business. With operations spanning 17 sites across five countries, the team at AB Agri also identified a significant amount of process duplication. Each COSHH assessment took an average of 60 minutes to write, leading to health and safety managers spending a considerable amount of time updating and reviewing existing assessments. It became increasingly difficult to keep control of a dynamic situation that was impacted by changing legislation, product suppliers, and other external factors.

About Customer

AB Agri is a unique community of leading agricultural businesses that operate across the entire food supply chain. As the agricultural division of Associated British Foods, its focus is to add value and drive profit for partners all along that chain by improving the sustainability of food production. The company has a rapidly growing business that had historically managed COSHH in-house, using a series of databases and safety data sheets. However, due to its continued growth and operational expansion, the company needed a more efficient solution to manage its COSHH assessments. With operations spanning 17 sites across five countries, the company was facing a significant challenge in managing its health and safety processes.

Solution

In June 2017, AB Agri chose Sypol’s COSHH Management System (CMS) to support their COSHH management strategy. The CMS provided a robust and scalable solution that enabled AB Agri to create and manage COSHH assessments more efficiently across multiple sites. Sypol’s team took responsibility for uploading hundreds of existing assessments to the new system, allowing AB Agri to hit the ground running. The Sypol team also trained AB Agri's team on how to use the software, create assessments, and structure the system in a way that supported their requirements, both from a group and individual site level. The CMS was flexible enough to reflect the differing needs of AB Agri's operation while standardising the way in which COSHH was managed and reported across the business. The CMS system helped AB Agri to achieve compliance more effectively while also reducing the amount of time staff had to spend inputting information into the system.

Impact #1	The implementation of Sypol’s COSHH Management System (CMS) has significantly improved AB Agri's management of hazardous substances. The health and safety team can now easily access COSHH assessments regardless of where they are based, and the assessments reflect the specific risks that need to be mitigated against at each site. The use of simple, pictorial style worker sheets has eliminated issues with training staff, regardless of language barriers. The CMS system has provided a scalable solution that can grow with the demands of the business, ensuring compliance more effectively. It has significantly improved the way AB Agri manages COSHH across the business.

Impact #1

The implementation of Sypol’s COSHH Management System (CMS) has significantly improved AB Agri's management of hazardous substances. The health and safety team can now easily access COSHH assessments regardless of where they are based, and the assessments reflect the specific risks that need to be mitigated against at each site. The use of simple, pictorial style worker sheets has eliminated issues with training staff, regardless of language barriers. The CMS system has provided a scalable solution that can grow with the demands of the business, ensuring compliance more effectively. It has significantly improved the way AB Agri manages COSHH across the business.

Benefit #1	Reduced time spent on writing COSHH assessments from an average of 60 minutes per assessment.
Benefit #2	Managed to upload hundreds of existing assessments to the new system.
Benefit #3	The system is scalable to manage almost 2,500 products or substances requiring a COSHH assessment.

Benefit #1

Reduced time spent on writing COSHH assessments from an average of 60 minutes per assessment.

Benefit #2

Managed to upload hundreds of existing assessments to the new system.

Benefit #3

The system is scalable to manage almost 2,500 products or substances requiring a COSHH assessment.

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Overview

Revamping Health and Safety Processes: A Case Study of AB Agri and Sypol

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit