SIMPL Company Action Plans
What is a Company Action Plan?
Under the SIMPL (Safety in Manufacturing Plastics & Composites) initiative, every company that has signed up to the SIMPL pledge has committed to developing a 3 year Company Action Plan with the overall aim of improving its health and safety standard and performance.
What are the benefits of developing a Company Action Plan?
Having an action plan allows the company to set out a 3 year plan on how it plans to improve its standard of health and safety both for legal compliance and improved risk management. This creates a focus and demonstrates the company's commitment to continual improvement.
HSE inspectors visiting a company may be aware that a company has signed up to the SIMPL Pledge and could ask to see the action plan during the visit. The action plan will show the inspector they have identified and prioritised the key risks in their company and established timescales for how and when improvements will happen.
Who should develop the Company Action Plan?
Each company that is signed up to the SIMPL pledge must develop their own company specific action plans. It is important that the Action Plan has input from, and is approved by senior management.
What should the Company Action Plan cover?
The Action Plan should include specific actions set against the 5 strategic objectives set out in the SIMPL Strategy which are:
- Leadership Objective
- Management System Objective
- Workforce Involvement Objective
- Risk Reduction Objective
- Accident Reduction Objective
The actions identified in the Action Plan should be relevant to the company, and translate these high level objectives into practical steps for improvement at a company level. If a company has no issues under one of the strategic objectives then they do not need to do anything for this objective.
Examples of actions against the Leadership Objective could include:
- Large Company – all senior managers receiving health & safety leadership and management training
- SME – The company Managing Director to attend at least one health and safety committee
- SME and Large Company – Have a named Director or senior manager responsible for health and safety
It is Important to get your workers involved in putting together your action plan. They may have knowledge of issues management aren't aware about and they may also have good ideas and suggestions of how to solve problems.
How ambitious should the Company Action Plan be and will the company be criticised or penalised for not meeting the timescales that it has set itself?
Each company should set itself challenging targets with SMART objectives. This means that actions are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
The company should make every effort to keep to agreed completion dates, but if it is unable to achieve the timescale it has set itself this should be reassessed and adjusted accordingly during the ongoing progress reviews throughout the 3 years
How often should the Company Action Plan be reviewed?
Company Action Plans should be reviewed at regular intervals throughout the 3 year period. Quarterly reviews could provide a good framework to keep the action plan on target.
Who should sign off the Company Action Plan?
Each Company Action Plan should be signed off by the CEO or most senior person in the company to ensure that it has top level commitment and support.
What help is available to develop my Company Action Plan?
Support and guidance on how to develop Company Action Plans can be obtained from either BPF, PAFA or Composites UK. The Trade Associations can provide example templates.
Here is a sample action plan template put together by PAFA that may help you in compiling your own action plan.