Quinn launch state-of-the-art Safety Hub

Company invests in company-wide health, safety and environmental management system

QUINN Industrial Holdings have invested in a state-of-the-art health and safety and environmental management system aimed at ensuring a zero-harm environment. The new digital Safety Hub gives the organization cloud-based, centralized health and safety management across all of its nine divisions.

Quinn have made a significant financial and resource investment in the new Hub, with the development project taking more than 12 months and involving numerous personnel from every area of the business, as well as a large number of external contractors.

Quinn’s health and safety manager, Gerry Clancy, said: ‘Investing in a system like this demonstrates a serious commitment to improving health and safety. By making health and safety everybody’s responsibility, it should ensure safer working and ensure our drive to Safer by Competence.’

The new Quinn Safety Hub uses Effective software for health and safety management, including the functionality to monitor and track any accidents, incidents and near misses, create and carry out audits, and raise actions relating to all health and safety matters.

The Hub also allows Quinn to manage their employee training records and gives control of all contractors’ health and safety and training documentation.

Part of the Hub development project included the integration of Learn Upon training management software to create a uniquely tailored system that allows for the delivery of online video-based training and inductions.

Following a visit to Quinn’s facilities to see the new system in action, Ken Logan MBE of the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) commended the company for the success of the Hub.

He said: ‘It is quite clear that a lot of engagement has gone on in the development of the Hub. In my view, it is a fantastic management tool for the senior managers within the organization. I’m really impressed with the real-time effects of it.’

On Quinn’s commitment to adopting a Safer by Competence policy to work towards a zero-harm environment, Mr Logan continued: ‘The company culture has to be driven from the top, and that has been impressive. There are very few companies in Northern Ireland that actually take the time out to look at the direction in which they want to take the company.’

The new system monitors and tracks all health and safety information across every area of the business. With nine different sites and more than 800 employees, the centralization of all health and safety records was important to achieve a holistic view and to track the success of a range of health and safety initiatives across all divisions.

According to Quinn, the beauty of the new system is that all information is now in real time. Previously, information was gathered and reports were based on the previous month’s activities, but everyone now has access, at the appropriate level, to the same up-to-date information.

Quinn are using the new system to improve their knowledge of what happens within the organization and where they can improve their processes going forward to ensure the safest working environment for all employees, contractors and visitors.

The Hub encourages a culture of accountability, with monitoring of all accidents, incidents and near misses throughout the business. Quinn also have the ability to audit and monitor how they are progressing with resolving issues as they arise.

Audits can be carried out on site using devices such as tablets or mobile phones via an app that is connected to the Hub. The audits are tailored to each area of the business, with the ability to design audit templates and the functionality to upload site photos directly from the device on site. Audits can be scheduled in advance and actions can be raised directly from within the audit templates and assigned to individuals throughout the company to complete.

Quinn say this functionality has greatly improved efficiency throughout the organization, with issues being raised and communicated in real time without the need for time-consuming paper-based reports.

Actions on the new system can be raised directly from incident/accident investigations, hazards, audits, or ad hoc. There is traceability and accountability for all actions that have been raised. If it is assigned to a person, that individual must follow through, complete and close out the action.

Given the scale and diversity of the Quinn organization, managing the different training requirements across all divisions can be a challenge, but the new system makes this much easier and allows the business to ensure consistent delivery across all its sites.

It is easy to identify training requirements using the Hub, thanks to its use of a traffic light system. Alerts are sent to the relevant managers in advance of any training that is due, allowing them to schedule training in line with operational needs.

With 814 employees, there is a vast range of training requirements, and the new system makes it easy to identify who needs to attend training, ensuring everyone is equipped with the relevant skills and qualifications to do their job. This training management system also helps to ensure compliance with all relevant legislation.

One of the greatest challenges when developing the new Hub was the fact that Quinn have such a large number of contractors from all disciplines working across the business, all of whom needed to be involved in the project.

The contractor module allows the company to have more secure contractor controls. Everything related to contractors, from their safety documentation to their individual employees’ training records, is now in one central location.

This centralized record of all contractors includes storage of risk assessments, insurances, method statements and any plant certificates. Before the introduction of the Hub, the company relied on individual contractors to ensure all relevant training and documentation were in place for each of their employees. With the new system, the company now has control of this, ensuring compliance and traceability at all times.

The introduction of Learn Upon training software also allows some training to be delivered online via videos created by the company, including some site inductions. This means contractors can complete their inductions off site, allowing them to get to work immediately upon arrival at the Quinn facilities, ensuring greater efficiency.

Commenting on the implementation of the Hub and how it is seen as a long-term investment that will continue to expand and evolve, Quinn’s director of operations, Kevin Lunney, said: ‘Making a change like this requires a significant culture change and we’ve had to involve all of the people from the factory floor to senior board level.’

‘Ensuring the health and safety of our employees remains the most important thing that we can do in our daily work. We need to ensure that we have the technology and the systems, and we will continue to develop the system that we’ve now installed to ensure we maintain the highest standards going forward.’