For the last 12 months BFFF continues to support both the IOSH Food and Drink Industry Group and the Food and Drink Manufacture forum. The pinnacle of this work is the annual H&S conference which took place this week. This year’s conference, entitled ‘Leading the Mix’ was held in Coventry with over 100 in attendance. The event celebrated health and safety excellence and started with an award ceremony.

We are delighted to announce that BFFF members Sysco won the runner up award for best innovation for health & safety, the award and collected by Tom Smith (Regional Health & Safety Manager). This award recognises the artificial intelligence adopted in their HGV fleet, this technology acts as the conduit in retraining their drivers and ultimately leading to better driving thus protecting the driver, third parties and the company. The benefits for Sysco have been massive including:

• Improvement of distractions such as mobile phone reduced by 40% in first 6 months,
• Reduction of on the road incidents equates to a 40% reduction in the first 3 months of inception,
• Reduction of 17% in harsh driving events,
• All insured costs down by 15%,
• Reduction in civil claims equate to since to a 10%,
• Drivers now logging performance scores of over 90%,
• Driver prosecutions in a single depot in last 6 months has reduced from an average of 6 down to 0.

We had a jam packed day with key insights from all the speakers including BFFF Members Greggs, Paul Irwin-Rhodes (Head of Sustainability Health & Safety) Paul talked us through effective multifunctional practical leadership within their business.

BFFF’s own primary authority Helen Atkinson Senior EHO for Wakefield Council explained to the audience the benefits of being part of a scheme and having a single enforcing authority.
We hope you support us in thanking all our speakers. sponsors and exhibitors.

BFFF were proud to be involved in organising such a prestigious event with quality speakers who covered the following topics during the day:

– Insights into driving health and safety improvement- Paul Irwin-Rhodes – Greggs,
– HSE update – David Butter,
– How well are you managing your machine safety- Dominic Baraclough & Richard Bowen – Finch
– Accident reduction innovations – Allied Bakeries | part of Associated British Foods plc – Award winner
– Enhancing health and safety through culture excellence – Phoebe Smith,
– Primary Authority and the benefits – Helen Atkinson & Chris Green,
– Managing a chemical incident – Kate Joy,
– Root cause analysis – Peter Jenkins & James MacPherson,
– The presence of safety – Finlays award winner (Driving excellence in OSH),
– Reflecting on health and safety leadership and followership – Shaun Lundy,
– Legal update – Chris Green,

Delegates left the day with some key takeaways which will support the wider food and drink industry ensuring a safer, healthier workplace for all.

To find out more about the H&S services provided by BFFF, please contact simonbrentnall@bfff.co.uk