1999 CERES report

Section 3:

Workplace Health & Safety Programs

Ben & Jerry’s has continued to be proactive in improving our safety record through safety-related capital improvements, safety education and awareness programs, and behavior-based safety processes. No safety regulatory actions were brought against the Company in 1999.

• Accident Investigation Program - Ben & Jerry’s uses an investigation process that seeks to discover the root causes of accidents and near misses. In this manner the company can track, rank and seek solutions to creating a safer workplace.


• Employee Safety Inspections - Comprehensive facility inspections are performed by employees on a monthly basis at all manufacturing sites. Action items are generated through these inspections and tracked by the representative or by Site Safety.


• Ammonia Safety - Ben & Jerry’s continues to be proactive in respect to anhydrous ammonia. The facilities all follow the requirements under Process Safety Management (PSM) which is an OSHA requirement.


• Manual Material Handling Issues - In 1999, Ben & Jerry’s continued to gain significant ground in creating a safer workplace, with renovations to help reduce repetitive motions, arm movements and hand fatigue in different aspects of production at each manufacturing plant:



Springfield - The construction of two chocolate silos reduced the need to manually handle 55-gallon chocolate barrels; the addition of a new bucket dumper decreased the frequency of lifting and pouring from 45-lb. ingredient containers. Other additions included an automatic case-taper, an automated sieve-shaker, and a powered drum-hauler.




Waterbury - To reduce upper extremity disorders and reduce the amount of physical material handling, a mechanically-assisted drum hauler and drum crusher were installed, along with a bulk transfer and tote system which enable ingredients to be pumped out, instead of manually lifted and poured. Also implemented was an on-site medical management program to provide immediate medical care in the case of injuries.




St. Albans - A barrel mover and a bucket dumper were purchased to reduce manual lifting and pouring. A bundler wrap carriage was also purchased to provide a safer means for employees to change bundler wrap.

• EPA Accidental Chemical Release Risk Management Program- Ben & Jerry’s performed the studies necessary to meet the Risk Management Plan (RMP) deadline set for 6/21/99. The plan is designed to explore a worst-case ammonia release scenario and to identify the possible consequences on the surrounding community environments. It contains information that meets the regulatory requirements of EPA’s 40 CFR 65.
  


• The Waterbury plant experienced an unforeseen anhydrous ammonia leak on October 2, 1999, caused by a coil leak in the freezer. Due to ongoing training of emergency response teams, the company’s HazMat group responded very promptly and appropriately to contain the leak. To ensure that no injuries would occur resulting from the release, the company cancelled plant tours and closed the manufacturing facility for a few days, until it could be determined that no risk remained to operations or to the staff.


• The company’s ongoing focus on material handling improvements is beginning to have a measurable effect. The number of Lost Time Cases was reduced by 7% for the year and the number of Lost Time Days was reduced by 77% in 1999 over 1998, indicating that the severity of injuries has been greatly reduced.

BEYOND LAW
Ben & Jerry’s regularly engages in activities that are not mandated by OSHA regulations, yet constitute Best Management Practices for safety. Some examples of these activities include:

• Health and Safety Committee meetings


• Training on safety equipment


• Purchase of back-up equipment for emergency response drills


• Behavior-Based Safety

Employee Communication

• Safety meetings are held monthly at each site.


• Safety issues are discussed and resolution activities are scheduled.


• All workers are supplied with and have access to MSDS sheets and other hazardous chemical information at any time at Ben & Jerry’s.


• Each site has a safety bulletin board which displays facility inspection results, safety committee meeting minutes, and other items designed to improve safety awareness.


• A safety report is part of the company’s annual Social Mission Report.


• Ben & Jerry’s has focused on safety program development and engineering controls for identified hazards.


• Behavioral-Based Safety has been implemented at the Distribution Center.

Measures of Safety

INJURY INCIDENTS
No regulatory actions were brought against the company in 1999. In 1997 we began tracking a rolling 12-month average of the injury incidence rate which has proven to be a better trend indicator of incidents versus the absolute Injury Incident Rate. The absolute rate is somewhat biased toward larger employee groups than ours. While our trend is downward, we are still above industry averages for the broad category of the food processing industry. We have not been able to set a benchmark for ice cream manufacturing.

OTHER MEASURES
Ben & Jerry’s uses other methods to target and measure activities that, if not controlled, will lead to loss and injury:

• Percentage of accidents with injuries


• Total events (near misses) with a goal of 20% or less


• Time frame within which safety issues are resolved


• Percentage of inspection schedules that are performed on time, with a goal of 100%


• Top three root causes of accidents per site are identified


• Lost-time cases and lost-time days are tracked