Lyreco in the UK was registered in 1913 and joined the Lyreco Group in the 80’s. They now employ nearly 1,600 staff in the UK and Ireland with offices in Dublin, Ireland and Airdre, Scotland as well as the head office in Telford. The Lyreco Group is a European leader in B2B distribution of office supplies and workplace solutions, running a tight logistics operation which delivers 235,000 boxes every day. Their 21 distribution centres cover over 400,000m² of space – in the UK alone they have a fleet of over 70 forklift trucks and over 250 drivers.
Lyreco is continuously working to provide a safe and healthy working environment to prevent workplace injuries. In the UK there was a specific project to review Health and Safety processes for the Forklift Truck and Materials Handling Equipment (MHE) fleet – specifically the inspection regime.
Peter Bythell, Lyreco Receiving Manager for Goods In, sought a solution on the internet and soon came across SG World and its portfolio of safety inspection solutions across a whole range of kit including fork lift trucks. Adam Rosenburg, SG World Regional Sales Manager recalls the first meeting, “Lyreco had a potential interest in a few SG World products. We initially looked at an inspection system based on digital pen capture but decided to go with the Safe-INSPECT paper inspection system.”
Safe-INSPECT is a multi part system incorporating a handy cheque book sized pad of inspection checklists tailored to the specific piece of equipment and its governing safety regulations. Completing a slip creates a carbon copy for records as well as a complete local inspection history that stays with the forklift truck. The reverse of the slip is a Pass/Fail notice which is displayed in a Hi-Vis , hardwearing status indicator wallet which affixes to the truck giving operators an instant flag if the vehicle is unsafe. It also provides a quick spot check for the Health and Safety Manager to ensure inspection processes are being followed.
After talking to Lyreco in greater depth it became apparent that they had many types of MHE to manage. Working together we designed a custom inspection pad which covered their full range of MHE equipment including forklift trucks. SG World design and print its own documentation and offered Lyreco a cost effective solution tailored to their requirements and also branded with their colours and logo.
Lyreco ordered an annual supply of 1000 MHE inspection pads to cover all of the MHE across their UK distribution network. Equipment inspections are scheduled once or twice a day depending on whether a warehouse is a 24/7 operation or smaller hub. Safe-INSPECT is flexible enough to support multiple inspection schedules.
The customisation has worked really well for Lyreco. They have updated the checklist to be more prescriptive, concentrating more on operational defects rather than cosmetic appearances. Consolidating safety checks across a few pieces of MHE actually made it easier for Lyreco to check that operators were thinking about how they filled in the forms effectively. Getting the pads personalised with Lyreco branding has helped Lyreco adopt the processes as their own.
The inspection pads proved an extremely useful platform for Lyreco to build up a structured, inspection regime that was easy to follow and manage. Lyreco put an internal training program in place and rolled Safe-INSPECT out across the UK. The drivers know their checklists are signed off by a supervisor, the reporting has improved significantly and feedback from the HSE has also been very positive.
Tags: Health & Safety, Case Study