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NSC-JISHA Joint Project 1999
Kerry, Inc. Safety Improvement Program l. Description of the Company The Kerry plant in Covington, Ohio, USA, is a spray drying facility with approximately 50 employees. The plant manufactures a variety of food powdered ingredients for human consumption. The plant produces approximately 40 million pounds annually. The product is used in such applications as cake. bread, biscuit. and gravy mixes, non-dairy creamers, etc. II. Safety and Health Program The Safety Improvement program (SIP) was implemented at the Covington plant in 1994. the old system was to conduct internal compliance inspections of all safety programs twice each year. The safety inspections overwhelmed the General Manager with too many issues to address in a six-month period. There was insufficient time to address major issues or make progress between the first and second inspection. The S.I.P. used the safety inspection to map out along-term plan with shot-term goals. Progress is measured by completion of six-week targets. The General Manager establishes the priorities and sets the target dates. The S.I.P. returned control of the safety initiative to the plant. Covington set their priorities, their workload, and their completion dates. It began with a review of the OSHA compliance programs, workers, compensation injury trends, and OSHA recordable injuries and illnesses. Priorities were established based on these reviews. Target dates for completion were set for the year and the first tasks to be done were assigned. These priorities are reviewed at six-week intervals to evaluate progress. The biggest barrier to implementing this program was developing a team of employees comfortable with interpreting safety standards and passing that knowledge on to coworkers. The initial meeting showed the supervisors were not comfortable with interpreting the OSHA standards. The Safety Coordinator was responsible for conducting training sessions on the standards. The Manager of Regulatory Compliance was involved in coaching sessions and progress reviews with the Safety Coordinator and supervisors. A schedule was established to upgrade training through the Principles of Occupational Safety and Health course leading toward the National Safety Councils Advanced Safety Certificate. Local half-day seminars were also used. One of the initial priorities was to improve on-site capabilities. The priorities established were: * Injury investigation. Past investigations were reviewed for recommended actions, completion of recommended actions, and to identify trends. The safety committee and Safety Coordinator established a system to review new investigations for cause, recommendations, and action taken. Investigations are now used to assess training needs, publish safety alerts, and assess awareness programs. A near miss incident investigation program is in place. * Safety committee. A safety committee was established with representation from union and management. The committee wrote their mission statement. Activities were: establishment of an employee training team, development of awareness campaigns, monitoring employee/management participation, conduct observations of practices and procedures, development of compliance programs, etc. The maintenance department tracked safety work orders to completion and maintained a percent-completed rate.An ergonomic team was trained. Equipment modifications and job procedures were recommended and made. New equipment was reviewed before the installation for ergonomic issues. A safety statement of commitment was signed by the General Manager and posted. This was in effect before the S.I.P. A group of Safety Coordinators from all plants formed a team to review all safety programs and share their successes and challenges. This team reviewed the safety statement and rewrote it as the Corporate Safety Policy. Kerry Ingredients is committed to the principle that each employee is entitled to a safe and healthy work environment. It is the policy of Kerry Ingredients to take appropriate measures to ensure that this commitment is fully supported by each employee. Each plant will do their part to maintain safety awareness, observe safety rules, encourage safe work habits, and sound judgement. Kerry Ingredients strives to exceed the regulations of local, state, and federal governments. The continued cooperation of all employees IS required to support and sustain this safety policy. * Employee safety awareness. Safety awareness was increased through a program for employees to identify hazards on the Boor. Polaroid photos were taken of the hazard as it was identified and after it was corrected. Employees were encouraged to bring forward any safety concern. Employees selected the "Top 5 Concerns" for priority action and the list was monitored for progress. Items are added to replace those completed. This list was expanded to include quality issues. All employees contributing to safety efforts received a letter of appreciation. Plant safety performance trends are posted for injury rates. lost/restricted workday frequency, injury free consecutive days, and hazards corrected. A section was added to the daily production report to record safety concerns. Holidays are used to tie safety slogans to small incentives (e.g., Thanksgiving -- letters of appreciation, Christmas -- reflect on family and health, New Year -- change and resolution, etc.) Employee participation is measured for activity on the safety committee, first aid responder, submitting a concern or hazard, and conducting training. Incentives are given for participation (e.g., glass mugs, soda, etc.). The participation campaign was started in 1997 and 65% of the employees contributed to safety efforts.An incentive program is in place for reduction of frequency rates. This is closely tied to contributions of employees and changes in the processes. * Compliance programs. Initial programs addressed were Emergency Action Plans, First Aid Responders, Hearing Conservation, Confined Space Entry, Lock Out/Tag Out, and Laboratory Chemical Hygiene. A Job Safety Analysis program was in place and JSA's are developed. Supervisors divided the compliance programs for review, implementation and training. The General Manager worked with the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation to review safety programs add offer additional suggestions. The history of Covington's injury/illness and severity incidence rates before and after the S.I.P. is given below. The period of 1991-1993 shows an average injury/illness incidence rate of 51.2 cases per 100 employees. The average after the S.I.P. implementation is 15.4. The last two years averaged 9.6. The lost workday/restricted workday incidence rate improved from 1991-1993 average rate of 417 lost workdays days per 100 employees to 331 after the S.I.P. The last two years average 29. In 1996, the plant implemented a modified duty program for employees with work-related restrictions. Work was offered to accommodate any restriction. This was a priority addressed when reviewing how to reduce workers' compensation losses. Workers' compensation showed an average loss per employee-hour worked of $0.67. This improved to $0.12 with the last two years averaging $0.01. (cases x 200,000/hours worked)
(days x 200,000/house worked)
lll. Effect on Productivity Productivity was affected by new job procedures developed through the confined space entry program, lock out/tag out program, job safety analysis program, and the ergonomic team. Written procedures for JSA allowed us to analyze delays in our cleaning procedures. Standard operating procedures eliminated delays by doing cleaning tasks simultaneously that had been done in series. Task analysis of lock out/tag out and confined space entry had employees looking into all procedures. The "Clean In Place" time (which is a measure of equipment down time) was reduced from 31.75 hours to 20.9 hours per year. The amount of water used in the plant was reduced from 13.7 million gallons annually to 5.8 million gallons annually. Ergonomic analysis of the bag fill and tote fill stations showed a bottleneck at the bag filler. The fryer had a higher production rate than the filler. Replacing the filler increased the production speed of the dryer and reduced ergonomic stresses on the arms, hands, and shoulders of the operators. A scissors lift table reduced stress on the back. A new sewing system reduced stress on the hands and arms, and allowed for faster bag fill. Analysis of the mixer area cleaning procedures resulted in the redesign of the area. The redesign is more efficient and the line is on longer without danger of food safety issues. The layout reduces strain to the back by bringing ingredients closer to the mixers. Product runs have increased from an average of 7.8 days to 16.1 days. the equipment on line percentage has increased from 80.1% in 1993 to 88.7% in 1997. The improved efficiency has reduced the cost per pound produced. Pounds produced have increased more than 20% while the operating budget increased <1% per year. The improvements in procedures and equipment also resulted in improved quality. A Quality Improvement Program (Q.I.P.) was implemented in 1995 using the same principles of the S.I.P. The Q.‡T.P. analyzed product holds, customer complaints, percent shippable, etc., to determine causes of quality issues and develop action plans. Independent audit scores conducted by the American Institute of Baking improved from 805 in 1991 to 940 in 1997. The percent shippable improved from 95.3% in 1993 to 97.6% in 1997. The American Institute of Baking audit has a scale up to 1000 points -- 700-799 is rated acceptable, 800-899 is rated excellent, and 900-1000 is superior. These audits review sanitation, product quality, and food safety issues. The percent shippable product improved from 95.3% in 1993 to 97.6% in 1997. This has resulted in $500,000 saving over this period.
Gallons of water used (millions)
Average Run time between CIP (days)
Equipment on-line percentage
Percent shippable product
IV. Comments and Conclusions The S.I.P. relied heavily on employee participation and recognition of their efforts. The word "improvement" is the key to this success. The program is always evaluating and evolving. The issues on the 1998 S.I.P. are different than they were in 1997. The standard is raised as the performance improves. It is the re-evaluation of what works and learning from what did not that drives this initiative. The Kerry, Inc., Safety Coordinators meet quarterly to share experiences, review what each plant has implemented, and set the priorities for their next review. |
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