How We Deliver An Outstanding Health And Safety Culture

At OUTCO, we’re committed to a health and safety culture in which every employee returns home safe and healthy… and that means putting safety first, always. That’s why we launched our annual Health and Safety Roadshow, an initiative designed to drive awareness and action around the critical importance of incident reporting. While we’re proud of our safety record, we recognise that preventing accidents starts with understanding the root causes of near misses.

What is an Incident? Why Report Them?

A health and safety incident is any unexpected event that has the potential to cause harm – whether that’s injury, illness, or property damage – even if no harm actually materialises. The difference between a health and safety incident and a health and safety accident is that an accident causes actual harm; an incident does not. Examples of health and safety incidents include spills, equipment malfunctions, near misses, or any situation that feels “off”. By reporting these incidents, we create a detailed map of potential risks within our workplace.

Analysing this data helps us understand how and why incidents occur, allowing us to proactively remove hazards and implement safeguards before they cause an actual accident. Incident reporting isn’t about pointing fingers; it’s about every employee playing their part in creating a safer environment for everyone. Each report is a valuable clue for our SHEQ department that helps OUTCO maximise workplace safety and drive continuous improvement.

A great example of this is reports of incidents with reversing cars during winter darkness, into tight spaces. This for example, helps to steer new accessory purchases to make our operatives even safer, such as extra reversing lights. Ultimately, the rigorous full examination of incidents is the only way for our health and safety department (SHEQ) to prevent any incidents ever becoming accidents. In this sense SHEQ act as OUTCO’s guardian angels, always analysing the data around incidents to make sure that all our employees are protected at work.

The Benefits of Health and Safety Incident Reporting

OUTCO’s culture of incident reporting offers a wide range of benefits. By analysing incident data, as a company we can pinpoint patterns and underlying causes of near-misses. This allows us to implement targeted safety measures, effectively reducing the likelihood of major accidents and protecting our employees from harm.

This culture of incident reporting exemplifies open communication and a sense of shared responsibility for safety throughout the workplace – it is all for the ‘common good’. This in turn means that every employee is healthily proactive in identifying potential risks, which leads into significant risk reduction for all employees.

OUTCO’s Health and Safety Roadshow

OUTCO’s roadshow about health and safety took place during the week 22-28th April 2024, all geared to coincide with World Safety and Health at Work Day on April 28th. The SHEQ roadshow spent a half day at each of our national depots so that all our employees were able to catch one of the sessions, giving a detailed talk about incident reporting.