Insight

(Left to right:) Kevin Hopper, safety rep; Richard Braithwaite, safety rep; Nigel Turner, operations manager; John Burn, general manager; Tim Snowden, production manager and Tom Robinson, safety rep with the OHSAS18001 certificate at Dignity’s coffin manufacturing factory.

Dignity coffin manufacturing facility is a safe place to work

Dignity’s coffin manufacturing facility in Hutton Cranswick, East Yorkshire, has gained OHSAS18001 accreditation, officially recognising the factory as a safe and healthy environment in which to work.

OHSAS18001 is a widely recognised management system that is awarded to sites that have a proven record of promoting health and safety by providing a framework to identify and control risks and reduce the potential for accidents.

“Following our accreditation for our ISO14001 Environmental Management System in 2012, the progression to 18001 was a natural one,” said general manager, John Burn. “We had to put in a great deal of time and effort to demonstrate that there is a clear commitment by management to occupational health and safety. We have updated existing procedures and implemented new ones and now have a combined Health, Safety and Environmental policies that meets international standards that comply with all UK and European legislation.”

Continued John: “This is an ongoing process of continuous improvement in all health and safety matters with a programme for employee training, awareness and involvement. One of the key drivers for our management system is to reduce accidents and manage behaviour towards safe working practices and our programme of staff training, awareness and involvement has enabled us to do this.”

Employing around 40 people and manufacturing in excess of 60,000 coffins per year, Dignity has one of the most modern and efficient manufacturing facilities in the UK and a distribution network running from the North East of Scotland to the South West of England, Wales and Ireland. The factory is now looking to take on four additional full time production workers.