As part of Maritime Safety Week 2023, Toni Hopkinson, PD Ports’ new Group Health, Safety and Environment manager gives her views on what the company is doing right, and how she wants to drive continual improvement.
I joined PD Ports in March this year and spent my first weeks getting to know the business, its people and its safety culture. Its clear that safety is a priority across the company – from the boardroom to quayside and beyond.
The environments we operate in – out on the river or into the North Sea, on the quayside, the docks, in a logistics and warehousing environment – are all intrinsically full of risk.
Our workforce take pride in their safety first ethos and the fact that we’ve won the ROSPA Gold award three times in a row is testament to our achievements. We have a process of continuous improvement and a safety champion network that helps strengthen our focus.
But you can never stand still when it comes to safety and my team and I have identified a number of areas for improvement that are already underway.
Prevention is better than cure, as they say, so my team and I will be reviewing our reporting and investigation processes to drive learning outcomes and prevention. Our more data driven processes are being embedded across the business to improve data accuracy and efficiency.
I also plan to work with our learning and development team and HR to align on key strategy areas, including occupational health and HSE training, to ensure a business-wide engagement and success.
Health and safety is intrinsic to all we do as a business and we’re determined to achieve excellence.
More information on PD Ports commitment to Health and Safety Here
