Keeping The Momentum Going For Health & Safety In 2018

Health and safety is central to the work we carry out here at Therser. All of us who work with industrial furnaces know how dangerous they can potentially be, and also the negative effect they can have on the environment if polluting emissions are not controlled adequately. With the first quarter of 2018 drawing to a close, we are happy to have continued the momentum for health and safety innovation built up in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Ceramic Industry Health & Safety Pledge Award Winners

In 2015 and 2017 we were proud to have been awarded the Health & Safety Pledge Award by the British Ceramic Confederation. Now in its 17th year, the Ceramic Industry Health and Safety Pledge was set up to encourage wider engagement by businesses across the industry in continually improving health and safety standards. The results in improvement and innovation have been impressive, with businesses, trade unions and the HSE working together successfully to reduce accidents and manage risk in the workplace.

Taking Up The Gauntlet

In practical results the industry has gone far beyond the challenge given by the government in 2000 to ‘revitalise’ the sector. In particular, the heavy clay, refractory and white wares sectors have seen dramatic reductions in accidents year-on-year, according to accident survey results from 2014 -17 published by the British Ceramic Confederation.

The pledge operates in different phases, each with a specific set of strategic health and safety goals. The fourth phase, which runs from 2017 to 2021 contains ambitious targets in the following areas:

• Health and safety leadership and cooperation
• Reducing and managing work-related ill-health
• Identifying and managing risk
• Supporting small businesses in health and safety compliance
• Adapting to industry changes and encouraging technological innovation
• Communicating successes with colleagues and other businesses in the industry

Criteria For Award Winners

The annual winners of the BCC Health & Safety Pledge Award are chosen for demonstrating effective leadership, evolving competence, engagement with workers, sharing best practices, supporting small businesses in the industry and encouraging a culture of continual improvement in health and safety standards in all these areas.

There is a lot to achieve in 2018 and we look forward to the challenges with optimistic confidence. The British Ceramic Industry is in a strong position to take advantage of market opportunities in the coming year, and to consolidate its position as a global leader in health, safety and environmental protection standards.