ABP Humber ports raise awareness of World Day for Safety and Health at Work

In order to raise awareness of the day, ABP’s four Humber ports in Grimsby, Immingham, Hull and Goole ran a competition which saw around 50 employees taking part in safety walks across the port estates.

According to the ports group, walkabouts are regular occurrences within the company, but to add a competitive edge, employees were given pedometers and asked to track their footfall. 

The addition of counting steps, meant that employees were trying to walk a further distance, improving their health by exercising and being outdoors. 

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recognised World Day for Safety and Health at Work for the past 15 years and works alongside companies who roll out awareness-raising campaigns.

The day, which promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases, is marked on 28 April each year.

Employees from all departments were encouraged to take part in the day, given a stringent 1 hour time frame in which they had to have their safety walk completed. 

Continually working on the improvement of health and safety in the workplace, ABP recently introduced their safety campaign ‘Beyond Zero’, which aims to see anyone attending the port estate to leave in a better condition than the one in which they arrived. 

Head of Compliance for the Humber, Martin Bardle, said: “Anything that enables our colleagues to look at safety differently is a move in the right direction. Our safety campaign, Beyond Zero empowers anyone who attends our ports to feel confident to report an unsafe action or even to stop a job that they deem to be unsafe.”

Martin continued: “With thousands of people across the ports and estuary at any one time in, this challenging behaviour is pivotal for our employees and contractors to adopt as they are our eyes and ears in the workplace for spotting potential incidents.” 

Whilst scores are still being gathered, it’s anticipated that a total of around 72 000 steps were recorded by the teams over their one hour period.

Read the article online at: https://www.drybulkmagazine.com/ports-terminals/04052018/abp-humber-ports-raise-awareness-of-world-day-for-safety-and-health-at-work/