One doesn’t normally think of work boots and safety vests when thinking of pro bono, but at Hillshire Brands, safety engineers made recommendations that will have a lasting impact for the volunteers and employees at Greater Berks Food Bank (GBFB) in Pennsylvania.
GBFB wanted to improve their safety initiatives and instill a culture of safety at their organization in anticipation of their move to a new facility in the fall of 2014. They needed to develop an approach to make a safety culture come alive because they were doubling the size of their facility.
The Process
Hillshire Brands selected GBFB to participate in a Diagnostic Session at the Hillshire Mixing Center Facility in Pottsville. Hillshire, with their local supply chain management partner Ryder, worked to fully understand GBFB safety needs. During that session, Executive Director Peg Bianca and her team sat down with Trevor Smith, Senior Manager of Logistics and Supply Chain, and his team to develop a framework for establishing a culture of safety at GBFB. They worked together to identify short, medium, and longer term steps that GBFB could take to establish a stronger safety program.
“This was the first time that we’ve had organized skills-based volunteering here at Greater Berks Food Bank. The communication with Taproot, Hillshire, and the Feeding America network has been great, and we knew we were in a room of experts. I felt like I was paying for these services,” said Bianca.
The food bank left their diagnostic session with a checklist of ten safety procedures that they could implement immediately after the session. The timing couldn’t have been better.
“This winter weather in east Pennsylvania has been a nightmare with the snow and icy streets. We incorporated many of the team’s suggestions such as safety boots and vests for our drivers and volunteers, and cones around the trucks when delivering. I believe that this season, these safety procedures have literally been a lifesaver for our drivers,” said Bianca.
The next step Hillshire took was to understand the current facility and its safety procedures. Nathan Whittaker, Mixing Center Manager, and a team of employees from Hillshire and Ryder, walked through GBFB’s existing facility to understand their operations. They then invited the food bank back to their facilities for a final half-day session, where they helped GBFB tailor a safety manual, but also begin to think about how to bring about a culture of safety within the organization.
For the Hillshire employees, it was a chance to demonstrate their expertise and also refresh skills.
“It was a good project management exercise. A lot of what I do is a general overview of the facilities – making sure we’re running on time, making sure our inventory is in check, making sure the bills are paid – basic kinds of facility management. This was a good example of having a project outline and using it to deliver a concise project,” said Whittaker.
The Results
Employees at GBFB now use a procedure developed from the work with Hillshire to identify and report potential safety hazards. Whereas before the safety reporting process was ad hoc, now employees regularly report challenges through predefined channels. More importantly, managers and employees can work together to develop solutions for continuous safety improvement.
“One of our drivers at one of our warehouses observed that at a lot of our warehouses, including the Hillshire Farms, when a driver pulls up to a loading dock, they lock the trailer in place where it couldn’t be moved, to ensure safety. Our driver felt like he could ask ‘What could we do here to make our docks safer for people unloading trucks?'” said Wayne Cockrell, Project Manager, GBFB.
GBFB developed a simple procedure based on his observation. Their dock doesn’t allow for wheel locking, but instead they ask each person dropping off goods to surrender their keys, which prevents them from accidently driving away with employees and volunteers still in the truck. The Hillshire pro bono engagement empowered GBFB employees to work with their leaders to develop solutions beyond just their Done-in-a-Day session. This approach reflects Hillshire’s dedication to continuous improvement that the Greater Berks Food Bank has adopted.
“It’s all just about getting your employees involved in safety and getting their feedback. At first it is messy, but they get better at it. Then they start to see that their feedback has made a constructive change. A lot of times it saves money, but it’s also about keeping everyone safe,” said Whittaker.
A Second Result
One doesn’t normally think of proper insulation when thinking of pro bono, either, but Hillshire Brands and Greater Berks Food Bank found an additional opportunity for success.
The Greater Berks Food Bank is moving to a new location and has an opportunity to design its space. From the pro bono sessions, they learned with the proper insulation (important for food safety), freezers can be converted into refrigerators and vice versa. This flexibility is critical because the food that GBFB gets is often seasonal. When they get their new space, they will be installing the proper insulation to allow for this capability. The implications of this will be that more donated food can be distributed to hungry neighbors with less food waste. Had they not met with their safety consultants, they might have missed this critical element in redesigning their new facility.
