FORTH AND TAY DISTRICT
of
EDINBURGH BRANCH
31st Meeting
Dewar Centre, Glover Street, Perth
at 7.30 pm Thursday 12th April 2007.
Sederunt.
K Paterson D Mann P Szawlowski R Summers
W Reiche S Chisholm R Greer A Thomson
T Mellon S Fowler C Kinnaird T Kinnaird
J Martinez P Hally J Wallace (Guest Speaker, Diageo)
K McDonnell J McCreadie (Guest Speaker – Allen Carr’s Easyway)
H McRea D Binnie A Pill B McDonnell
B Stainton J Little G Macnab J Goddard
E Stobbie J Gorgon
1. Chairperson Karen McDonnell
· The Chairperson opened the meeting at 7.30 pm welcoming everyone attending the 31st Meeting of the Forth and Tay District. Karen observed that the number attending was lower than of recent meetings even taking into account the apologies the Secretary had received. She went on to deal with the Centre’s administrative and emergency procedures. Karen then outlined the agenda for the evening which departed from previous meetings: first, business; second, a short session from a guest speaker (Jim McCreadie – Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking); a short refreshment break and, finally, the main guest speaker for the evening (Jim Wallace – Diageo).
· Karen also asked the meeting to note that refreshments had been provided for the break. (Members had already availed themselves!)
· The Chair informed members that a simple name-badge system had been provided that would facilitate easy identification of one another – particularly for people attending for the first time. The Secretary would continue to look after the (unused) badges and make them available at future meetings.
· Finally, Karen stated that she wished to apologise on behalf of us all for an oversight at the February Annual General Meeting. At that Meeting some members who had served the Committee diligently stepped down: no formal Vote of Thanks was put forward at that time. The Chairperson proposed a formal Vote of Thanks for the work done by Kirsten Paterson, Joan Goddard, Barry Davies and Dave Devey. The Meeting unanimously agreed.
2. Minutes of the 29th Meeting on the 9th November 2006
· The Secretary informed the meeting that copies of the 29th meeting had been distributed by e-mail in November. However, paper copies were also distributed throughout the room for reference. The meeting was asked if there were any comments to be made regarding the Minutes of that meeting. No comments were forthcoming and, so, it was proposed that the Minutes be accepted as a true record of that meeting.
3. Secretary’s Report Dick Mann
Paul Colquhoun (subsequently remedied) and Bruce Spence
Dick requested that anyone who was in contact with Bruce Spence contact them and explain the situation; if they telephoned him using the number given on the IOSH Branch / District website he would alter his e-mail details. In the meantime, Bruce Spence has been removed from the Secretary’s e-mail address list.
· For further details of the chosen site visit on the 7th June, the Secretary asked Sandy Fowler – who is presently undertaking contract work at FMC, Dunfermline – to address the meeting. Sandy obliged. (All addressees for these Minutes have been separately e-mailed asking if they wish to be added to the list of those visiting FMC).
4. Correspondence
Nothing to report.
5. Branch Liaison – Karen McDonnell
Karen briefed the meeting that, at the recent meeting of the Branch Committee they decided that providing a 10 minute “speaker slot” for members to put forward ideas, information or solutions to problems they’d encountered for the benefit of others was a good idea. This is the rational behind the District Committee electing to have such a 10 minute “slot”(– this meeting being the first trial of the idea at District level).
IOSH Headquarters had recently rolled out “PR” Training for the benefit of members who might find themselves in the situation of having to deal with the media – possibly following serious health and safety incidents. The training is designed to ensure that IOSH presents a professional image competent in its business.
On the 29th June Karen will visit IOSH HQ in Leicester for the purpose of gaining current updates on on-line CPD and other education initiatives.
6. Any Other Competent Business
Karen McDonnell informed the meeting that the Scottish Executive had announced in a News Release on the 29th March “a new £1.2 million plan to improve the health and safety of Scottish workers and the public”. Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson in making the announcement made positive references to the involvement of the STUC and the Partnership on Health and Safety in Scotland (PHASS) – which has CBI representation – in developing the plan. The News Release, in its notes for news editors, indicated that most of the £1.2 million budget will go to providing additional services to employers and employees through the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives.
The News Release did not provide a direct web-site link address to the Plan, however members wishing to find more information could initially try www.scotland.gov.uk
7. Ten Minute Speaker - Jim McCreadie,
Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking.
Jim McCreadie introduced himself to the meeting as a reformed smoker. However, he had not come to the meeting to preach; rather to illustrate how much smoking at work is costing business (quite apart from the personal costs to individuals if their health fails).
Jim proceeded to put forward a number of statistics that indicated a significant loss potential for employers caused by smoking at work. (Note, any person reading these Minutes are requested to contact the Secretary if they would like this information in more detail.)
Jim also showed the meeting a simple “paper calculator” that allowed computation of the potential costs to a business of smoking. (The Secretary can forward this to members on request.)
Finally Jim outlined how the Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking system can work for employers; the process; the costs; the benefits and the guarantee offered. Anyone wishing to consider this for their own organisation can either contact Easyway at telephone number 0131 449 7858 or through the website at www.easywayscotland.co.uk
(Short break for refreshments)
8. Guest Speaker - Jim Wallace, Risk Manager at Diageo, Leven, Fife.
Topic – Global Risk Management.
Jim Wallace gave a short introduction to his career in Diageo for whom he has worked for 36 years in various quality control, production management and risk roles across distilling and packaging. He has been closely concerned with risk control since 1993.
He then went on to briefly show Diageo’s involvement around the globe:
- Diageo trades in some 180 countries around the world.
- Approximately 20,000 global employees, 35 distilleries, 15 breweries, 10 wineries, 20 blending and packaging plants, 20 warehousing and ancillary sites.
- Scotland is the largest Supply Centre with 30 distilleries and three packaging plants. There are about 4,000 Scottish employees producing over 50 million cases of premium whiskies, other spirits and drink brands – about 85% goes for export.
- Production facilities are to be found as far a field as North and South America, Africa, the Caribbean, Australia and the Far East.
Wherever the company operates they adhere to their Five Values:
Be the Best; Freedom to Succeed; Proud of What We Do; Passionate About Consumers and Valuing Each Other.
These values remain at the heart of Diageo and are central to the company’s dealing with all employees around the world.
Corporate Risk and Corporate Citizenship.
Jim stated that it is the company’s aim to manage risk and control activities so as to avoid and reduce occurrences that could cause loss, damage to company reputation or business failure.
Risk threats can be financial, property linked, insurance liability, occupational health and safety based, environmentally based or to do with security.
In managing these risk threats globally the varying national cultures, political and financial management systems have to be sensitively considered.
Diageo faces up to these responsibilities publicly and, in its annual reporting, includes details of how they release the potential of their global employees.
Risk Management Policies, Standards and Procedures.
Diageo has global Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental policies, both signed-off by the Managing Director Global Supply.
Global Supply Scotland has an Occupational Health and Safety Policy endorsed by a Statement from the Site Head.
The Policies set out the scope, organisation, responsibilities and objectives for the management of risk globally. The Policies include the arrangements for regular reviews.
Standards are set for:
Customer care,
Hazardous substances,
Hazardous tasks,
Quality,
Occupational health,
Fire safety,
Machinery,
Electrical safety, and
The Control of the threat of Legionella.
There is a Code of Conduct covering some 3,000 managers and those they are responsible for.
Risk Governance and Structure.
Diageo operates both Control Assurance and Risk Management systems (CARM). A Technical Director on the Global Supply Leadership Team has responsibility for risk.
Sites have to gain a Licence to Operate.
A Global Risk Team is based in the UK in London. This is supported by Governance Teams, Risk Managers at major sites and specialist risk managers for specialised risks.
Compliance teams confirm sites operate to company policy.
Jim proudly pointed out that Diageo had won international awards for its risk management systems.
Business Continuity.
Business continuity in Diageo covers the three stages of prevention, mitigation and recovery.
Prevention is the proactive implementation of safety and environmental management systems – including “COMAH” where applicable.
Mitigation is a more reactive process involving incident and crisis management.
Recovery involves the implementation of contingencies and plans to enable affected sites to return to normal operations.
Diageo’s People.
As a global operation Diageo offers opportunities for people to work around the world; and sometimes has to deploy staff across the globe to carry out tasks. This leads to a potential for people to be exposed to increased risks, sometimes to their health and potentially to their safety and security.
The company operates a “Helpdesk Function” that can provide advice to travellers.
Global Experiences.
In bringing his talk to a close Jim gave out a few interesting facts and experiences concerning the company:
The safety we take for granted in the UK and other westernised countries does not exist elsewhere.
85% of the global workforce (not Diageo exclusively) are still without support or guidance.
“Old” hazards – such as noise and dusts – still exist in the business.
The biggest hazard faced by child workers (!) in Africa is being shot!
In some places even a simple pair of gloves for protection represents a prohibitive cost.
Examples have been found of African workers cleaning glass bottles in troughs of caustic soda solution with their bare hands!
A bulk tank explosion occurred in Australia when welding operations took place without controls to ensure it was safe. This was “normal practice”.
A fire in a predominantly wooden warehouse built on a hill in the USA caused spirits to ignite and flow down to the distillery and river below.
In Venezuela a wages robbery at a gatehouse involved a shooting.
At the end of his very interesting presentation Jim invited questions from the audience. A number of members took the opportunity to raise points and Jim dealt with them in his good humoured way.
9. Vote of Thanks – Dick Mann
At the end of George Dickson’s presentation to the meeting, Dick Mann thanked him for a most interesting presentation. In particular Dick highlighted the appalling examples Jim had given at the end of his talk and how we all find it “enjoyable” to learn of such events, but fervently hope it never happens to us! He then proposed that the Meeting then show its appreciation in the usual way. After applause, a gift on behalf of the District in appreciation of a very informative and enjoyable talk was given to Jim Wallace.
10. Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held at the Dewar Centre on Thursday the 6th September 2007 commencing at 7.30pm. The Guest Speaker will be Mr Robert Fife, Anderson Strathern. (Topic – To be notified)