October 2011 Newsletter
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| Welcome to the October 2011 issue of Xmo Strata's online
newsletter. To view a story, please click on the relevant headline below. For further information on any of the stories featured, please contact us or visit http://www.xmostrata.com/ Content
TRAINING REFRESHER FOR CREWS ANTI CORRUPTION LAW ISO REVIEW - TOP MARKS BUT NO COMPLACENCY MIND THE HOLE! STRESSED OUT! AIRING ONE'S DIRTY LINEN? TOP MARKS IN THREE YEAR SAFETY AUDIT FACEBOOK PIC SHOWED 11-YEAR OLD ON ROOF! “EXCELLENT INTERVENTION” BY XMO STRATA ENGINEERS SAFETY AWARD - STILL TIME TO ENTER
There's still time to enter the Xmo Strata health and safety award - open to dealers, contractors, site managers and employees of any organisation working on UK forecourts. Even competitor companies are welcome to enter - Xmo Strata bosses say it is all about a culture of safety and nothing to do with competitiveness. “Some of our competitors are respected companies who have made positive contributions to health and safety,” said Xmo Strata Managing Director Steve Martin. “They are as welcome to enter as anyone else.” If you have developed ways of working more safely on a forecourt then visit http://www.xmostrata.com/ and get your entry in before the September 30 deadline. The judges include senior representatives of Shell, BP, Artelia UK, ABB Limited, Gilbarco Veeder-Root, Snax 24 and the Lend Lease Corporation. They'll be looking for entries which do any or all of the following:
Judges will take into account the potential the initiative has to improve safety across multiple sites; the consideration the entrant has given to all site patrons; and the uniqueness of the idea. “Basically there are no real restrictions,” said Mr Martin. “If you have made a site safer in some way, let us know in an entry.” The winner or winning team can spend the £1,000 as they wish. TRAINING REFRESHER FOR CREWS All Xmo Strata crews are undertaking a one-day refresher
course in key aspects of site safety. The course content was
designed following two recent audits of safety procedures and
after discussions with customers. Employees attended courses
at Carshalton, Surrey on 24th August, and the Colwick Park
Hall, near Nottingham, on September 6 and 7; the final course
will be held at the company's head office at Marden, Maidstone
on October 14. One key area of the course was the fact that
each customer has its own set of safety procedures; Xmo Strata
has now introduced revised procedures of its own which take
into account every item covered by every
customer.
“It's difficult for the guys moving from one customer to another when the procedures are all slightly different and I am always conscious that accidents can happen as a result of confusion or a lack of understanding,” said Managing Director Steve Martin. “We've tried to introduce some clarity and cohesion by making sure that we operate to the highest common denominator.”
Back to content ANTI CORRUPTION LAW New anti corruption legislation entered the UK statute
books in July which mirrors similar legislation in other
developed countries. The bribery act sets out new criminal
offences (offering to pay a bribe; requesting or receiving a
bribe; bribing a foreign public official and - at a corporate
level - failing to prevent bribery). The new law is
comprehensive and is careful to predict probable attempts to
circumvent its requirements. The penalties include unlimited
fines for companies and prison sentences of up to ten years
for individuals.
The Ministry of Justice has published guidelines which firms can adopt internally to help prevent corruption amongst their own employees or employees of the organisations they interface with. Xmo Strata Managing Director Steve Martin said: “We all know that bribery goes on in business. It is seldom as crude as just handing over a wad of cash and people often think that by giving a business contact goods, and then getting that same contact to sign-off inflated invoices for something unrelated, they are getting away with it. Until now many probably have but this will incentivise those who suspect bribery to probe the issue further - including auditors. “If you are a director of a company that has lost a contract because of bribery, for example, you are now in a much stronger position. Bribery comes in all shapes and sizes and it looks as though the new law will offer few hiding places, which should be a cause of celebration for all honest companies who seek to sell their products and services purely on their merits and value.” ISO REVIEW - TOP MARKS BUT NO COMPLACENCY
Xmo Strata's annual ISO review took place recently at the Marden head office and at a Shell site at Elstree that was being rebranded; the company passed on three sections of the audit with no non-compliances. The ISO auditor at the Shell Elstree forecourt commented that the standards of competence seen on site were amongst the highest he has witnessed. “That's pleasing,” said Managing Director Steve Martin. “But whenever we get a result like this we always have to guard against complacency.” The report stated that “there is evidence of continuing investment in terms of new and refresher training of maintenance crews, with high levels of supervision and internal audit, especially of safety standards.” Steve Martin commented: “The objective it to give a competitive but high quality service whilst ensuring compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Act etc, 1974. We use knowledgeable, well trained and experienced contract staff with suitable PPE to protect the customer from any health and safety issues which might otherwise arise.” MIND THE HOLE!
Xmo Strata engineers arrived on a BP site in Hounslow to discover that a manhole cover at the site entrance had been broken and was falling into the hole. It was a clear risk to the public and the two took immediate action. Cones were placed around the hole, it was photographed, and the problem was reported to BP, Xmo Strata supervisor Terry Smith - the site's acting manager took responsibility for investigating who owned the area in which the hole was located so that repairs could be arranged. STRESSED OUT! We all complain of stress from time to time - but what does it really mean? The definition used by professionals working in the field is that stress is the reaction some people have to situations where the workload exceeds the person's ability and capacity to cope. It's a significant cause of illness and disease and is linked to high levels of absence, staff turnover and other indicators of organisational underperformance. For those concerned about health and safety it also has one other, potentially deadly effect: it increases the chances of human error. Xmo Strata bosses have introduced a clear ten-point policy on stress:
“We all have tough days from time to time and not everything that happens at work is necessarily easy to deal with,” said Steve Martin. “Everyone in the world of work occasionally has awkward customers, colleagues who are being unreasonable over something or can be faced with a rather daunting workload. “But when that spills over into stress it becomes dangerous, and since we are constantly trying to reduce accidents and risk in the workplace it is something which - as a company - we ought to be knowledgeable and sensible about. That's essentially what the new policy says.”
Back to content  AIRING ONE'S DIRTY
LINEN?BY STEVE MARTIN Following two recent audits that I felt were wholly unacceptable, the senior management team and I decided to appoint specialist health and safety consultancy SMTS to carry out an external assessment of all Xmo Strata teams over a two month period. The objective was to have comprehensive and measurable data to ensure that in the event of an incident Xmo Strata's customers are fully compliant with section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, etc. 1974 which covers a company's obligation towards the safety of others. SMTS was chosen because they are accredited to deliver UKPIA and NEBOSH training and have extensive experience within the petroleum sector. We asked SMTS to measure the performance of teams using both Xmo Strata's internal safety documentation and those of SMTS, so that we could compare the documents and look at any improvements that could be made. This also allowed the senior management team to compare the SMTS's compliance scores with our internal audits. The SMTS audit scored our office procedures at 99 per cent compliant and our field based teams at 94.2 per cent. Whilst no audit is perfect, every finding by SMTS will be systematically addressed in whatever way is deemed most suitable. As a follow-up to the audit process, I have asked a different external agency with experience of workplace training to carry out specially designed behavioural safety courses, addressing the specific issues raised, for all the teams in the audit findings which you can see below. Field Audit findings
The entire management team is supportive of the notion that good safety practice is a matter of constant attention to both strategy and detail and that lifting one's foot from the pedal, however briefly, will translate directly into an impaired performance. The new behavioural workshop will reinforce this in a number of ways and will incorporate role-play and sophisticated adult learning techniques to ensure that the key messages and training are delivered in the most effective possible way. Back to content TOP MARKS IN THREE YEAR SAFETY AUDIT
The office based audit, by a specialist firm, looked at the company's Health & Safety policy, organisation, procedures, risk control, training, safety records, communication, inspections, health and environmental arrangements and scored 297 of the 300 points available. Company boss Steve Martin ensured that the other 1 per cent shortfall had been addressed within a week of the audit being conducted. “It's a fantastic score, of course, and it's the result of a team effort over a sustained period by a lot of people,” he said. “But we're very alert to the fact that a high score in these things carries with it the risk of complacency. That won't be happening. “We've already put in place procedures to deal with the 1% we didn't get to ensure we offer the best possible service to BP and all our other customers whilst maintaining the highest safety standards.” FACEBOOK PIC SHOWED 11-YEAR OLD ON ROOF!
The thrill-seeking youngster had climbed up scaffolding erected for workmen repairing a chimney at the council house in Nantwich. “The risk of him falling to his death was very clear,” said Steve. “The ladders giving access to the scaffold had been left in position, and there had been no attempt to restrict access,” said Steve, who uses scaffolds in the course of his own work and has been trained in their use. “It was clearly dangerous and could very easily have led to a fatality.” Good practice in health and safety is to deal with issues like that calmly and professionally ... which he did by emailing the council's works department and outlining the problem. He pointed out that the ‘scafftag’ - a required document attached to the scaffolding - said that it had been erected in February, but the incident took place in June. In between those two events there had been gale-force winds and the scaffolding should have been checked for damage - which hadn't happened. “I understand that the scaffolders had actually forgotten about the job,” he said. “When all this was pointed out to them they arrived the following day and fitted a board, making access to the ladders difficult, and inspected the scaffolding to ensure that any contractors using it afterwards would be safe. “In my day job at Xmo Strata we're all well trained in spotting potential hazards - we all take this approach home with us so as soon as I saw those photos I was straight onto my mother-in-law, then the council. I dread to think what could have happened if I hadn't spotted those photos on Facebook,” said Steve, who wants to keep his nephew's identity confidential. “The council knows who he is and so do the contractors and it won't help to bandy his name around any more. I was a bit of a Big Bad Uncle for stopping his fun, I think, but I can live with that. “There is a no-blame culture in health and safety, so I don't want to be naming and shaming the particular council involved either. That's not the point. “But this was horrific - at the extreme end of irresponsible conduct and negligence. I don't believe that an extreme incident like this can be a one-off and in their place I would now be looking hard for evidence of routine breaches of health and safety procedures. “This wasn't on a fenced-off building site or anything, not that that would have been an excuse; it was in the back garden of a family home and there were multiple breaches of professional procedures. “I very much hope that the council has tightened up procedures, introduced some further training and monitoring of sub contractors, and that there will be no repeat. “I reported it as a near-miss in our own company, which publishes these things on the web so that everyone can learn from them - including all its own health and safety reports. “But I hope it's also been reported as a near miss in the council and something has been done about it. If it hasn't, then someone needs to be asking some penetrating questions.” “EXCELLENT INTERVENTION” BY XMO STRATA ENGINEERS
Johnson Controls Regional Operations Manager Mike Turner has awarded Marks and Spencer vouchers to Paul and Craig Thomasen, a father and son engineering team working for Xmo Strata. The pair spotted a leaking fuel pump at a Shell forecourt in Cambridge. Onsite staff had assumed it was a spillage and merely put sand down but the Xmo Strata crew quickly realised it was more serious. They cleaned up the spill and reported it as a potential incident, earning Mr Turner's thanks. He described their actions as an “excellent intervention”. The vouchers were presented by Xmo Strata Managing Director Steve Martin at a behavioural safety course held recently in Nottingham.  | ||||||||||||||||
