Trainee Assistant Construction Manager and YSLT member, Ben Hunter, introduces Keltbray’s latest safety initiatives devised by the company’s future leaders….

As Health, Safety and Wellbeing is one of Keltbray’s core values, the Board wanted to ensure that we had plans in place to improve our ways of working now and in the futue. The young safety leadership team (YSLT) is an initiative that was set up in July 2018 to do just that and collaborate on how to ensure the highest standards of health and safety across the business.  The team features a representative from each business unit of Keltbray Group.

Once the group was formed we were presented the following question from the board; “How can we improve the effectiveness of Health & Safety communications across Keltbray Group”. The team were then tasked with coming up with some proposals that were to be presented at the Keltbray Operations Board away day in October 2018.

After a couple of brainstorming sessions, the team came up with the following three ideas:

  • Keltbray Group safety stand downs (KGSSD)
  • Practical toolbox talks (PBTB)
  • Digital notice boards

These ideas were proposed at the operational away day and a large amount of positive feedback was received.

Time was then spent refining these ideas and ensuring that they could be integrated across the whole of Keltbray Group. This was achieved by seeking the advice of the relevant department heads and experts on what would and wouldn’t work. Once this process had been completed, the YSLT felt that it had all the necessary info to proceed with implementing their proposals.

The KGSSD were trialled across the group in early January and received a lot of positive feedback. More than 85% of the staff for whom the stand downs were trialled for strongly agreed or agreed the stand downs were beneficial and raised awareness of safety issues within the business.

Eight practical toolbox talks have been produced by the YSLT and reviewed internally by the department heads  experts; The Housekeeping PTBT was trialled at 20 Ropemaker Street and Clarendon Road with operatives from both sites providing positive feedback on the toolbox talk.

There are currently two digital notice boards on trial for Built Environment Services and R&I The YSLT have been collaborating with the IT, Comms and relevant project departments regarding what content is to be displayed on these boards going forward

As of May 2019 the YSLT are finalising the handover of the above three initiatives that have been developed over to the relevant project leads/Keltbray Group departments. These initiatives will then be rolled out across the business. Once this has been completed, the YSLT will then be investigating new related proposals that could be identified as areas for improvement towards the end of 2019

It’s been a great experience so far and we can’t wait to continue.

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