CASE STUDY

DEDICATION TO WORKER SAFETY BRINGS MAJOR REWARDS FOR RWG

T he Aberdeen-based company provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services

for industrial aero-derivative gas generators and power turbines used in the power generation, oil and gas and marine propulsion industries globally.

Having identified hand hazards as a significant safety risk to around 300 of its workers as a result of the manual engineering tasks undertaken, RWG launched its Handsafe campaign.

A continually evolving hand protection campaign by world-leading gas turbine maintenance, repair and overhaul specialist RWG has seen worker hand injuries across its sites reduce by 85%.

D esigned to continually educate and inform

workers about the range of hand hazards

on site backed up through training,

support and a range of flexible and

developing hand protection solutions delivered by the

team at Globus, Handsafe has been instrumental in both

reducing injury levels and increasing worker awareness.

This integrated approach has seen hand and arm

injuries on site reduce from a high of 81 in 2009 to just

11 minor injuries in 2016 all of which required only

local first aid treatment.

“When we looked we consistently saw around 60-

70% of the injuries at RWG involved our employees’

hands and arms, so we developed Handsafe to really

address this,“ said Jenny Shorrocks, QHSE Co-ordinator,

Operations Integrity Group, at RWG.

“From the outset the intention was to engage the

workforce fully in hand, arm protection but keep things

fun and interesting to ensure continual involvement

and participation.

“There are many ‘short term’ Health & Safety initiatives

out there, but we really wanted Handsafe to run

continually due to how important our hands are and the

role they play in all operations at RWG.

“We hoped that over time, involvement from the

whole workforce in Handsafe would reduce injuries

and of course encourage learning across the business,

introducing new ‘best practice’ and further improve our

safety culture, and have been delighted with the results

to date,“ added Jenny.

To help effectively deliver Handsafe, RWG created a

‘bottom up’ approach to the campaign rather than a ’top

down’, delivered through champions, appointed to really

drive the campaign, allowing them to make differences

where they wanted to make differences, fully supported

by the Management team.

The Handsafe Champions play a vital role, their

enthusiasm key to its success, helping create an

environment where everyone is working together to

help drive down hand and arm injuries.

“This integrated approach has seen hand and arm injuries on site

reduce from a high of 81 in 2009 to just 11 minor injuries in 2016”

“Handsafe has not only improved the gloves on offer,

but educated employees regarding hand and arm

safety, the importance of our hands and arms, the

impact of hand and arm injuries (on the individual, their

family, social life and working life) and how to protect

them both at home and at work, and Globus have been

integral to this,“ said Jenny.

As a result, the 300 glove wearers on RWG sites

now use a range of Globus gloves including:

For mechanical engineering work -SHOWA 541 and SKYTEC Beta 1 and Ninja Lite

For manual handling and outdoor work -SHOWA 541 and SKYTEC Argon and NINJA Knight

For chemical work -SHOWA 720, NSK26, and 281 Temres.

SKYTEC Teal and IRIS.

All of the gloves were chosen by RWG employees

through extensive trials organised by Globus.

“Globus has not only improved the quality of the gloves

on offer but dramatically streamlined our glove offering

to make it easier for employees to make an ‘informed’

selection. I use the word ‘informed’ as I feel that

employees are making more of an educated decision on

which gloves they should use for the process.

“They are now thinking about the importance of

selecting the most appropriate glove. It goes beyond

selecting the glove with the highest ‘cut level’; instead

they now make a selection considering issues such as

fit, dexterity and comfort as they now understand that

an ill-fitting glove, or one that offers little dexterity can

impact on safety and quality,“ added Jenny.

• Organising glove trials across all RWG sites to ensure the right gloves for all tasks were selected

• Providing on site training to introduce selected gloves for the tasks carried out

• Creation of posters providing performance information of the selected gloves featured

• Creation of a glove sizing poster

• Creation of a hand protection glove roll holding all selected gloves used on site

• Regular updating of the glove roll solutions in line with developing glove technologies

• Attending many Handsafe meetings to provide ongoing support and advice

The team at Globus

has also been integral

in helping RWG

deliver Handsafe,

supporting the

company in a number

of ways including:

As a result of their approach to worker safety, RWG has received a ‘Safety

Recognition Award – For Excellence in the Field of Worker Protection’

from Globus – only the third ever to be handed out by the company.

According to Michael Easton, Sales and Marketing Director for Globus,

RWG’s dedicated approach to involving staff at every level to help create a

positive safety culture, combined with embracing the need to continually

evolve and innovate its approach to hand protection was the driving force

behind the award.

“Our award for safety excellence was created to recognise truly exceptional

worker safety initiatives and that has certainly been the case with RWG.

The company recognised as far back as 2008 the need to address hand and

arm protection, given the physical impact of the work carried out on site

and devised and launched Handsafe as a result, and we are delighted to be

playing a positive role in helping them deliver that,“said Michael.

Globus (Shetland) Ltd, Globus Building, 14 Central Park, Mosley Road, Trafford Park, Manchester, M17 1NY, UK © 2017 Globus (Shetland) Ltd | GLOBUS-CASE-RWG-0717 - 2 Handsafe Campaign

For more information on the range of hand protection solutions available from Globus visit www.globus.co.uk call +44 (0)161 877 4747 or email sales@globus.co.uk

Globus Safety Recognition Award