Category one – Best solution to an identified work health and safety issue
Incitec Pivot Fertilisers delivers over 200,000 one tonne fertiliser bags to third party farms each year. After a number of serious incidents involving bag failures, Incitec Pivot Fertilisers launched a safety campaign to raise awareness and change behaviours across their supply chain.
While performing a full investigation into the bag failure, they worked with customers, freight providers, the procurement unit, bag suppliers, senior management and the operations team to understand the issues. This secured buy in and support from all stakeholders and resulted in a collaborative safety solution.
Using a combination of engineering, design, training, awareness and engagement activities, Incitec Pivot Fertilisers positively influenced its manufacturers and farm operators to take a safer approach to storing and managing one tonne bags. It improved the strap strength, increased the bag strength, produced a safe handling video with supporting resources and held training sessions for supply and distribution personnel.
Incitec Pivot Fertilisers included the whole supply chain in developing its solution. By prioritising stakeholder engagement and identifying geographic and cultural barriers early, it was able to effectively overcome challenges and improve safety.
