Kautex Unipart Ltd is based at Coventry Business Park in the West Midlands. It is here, at their purpose built premises that they manufacture plastic automotive fuel systems for the motor industry.

The site was one of the first in Europe to use cutting edge co-extrusion plastic blow moulding technology pioneered by the company in 1940 and developed ever since into a highly sophisticated manufacturing process.

The Challenge 

Whilst the company already had a home made system in place for the pre-shift inspection of their fork lift trucks, they were looking for something more disciplined and organised. Crucially the new process had to be easy to use and not take up a substantial part of the operator’s day in conducting the inspection.

The SG World Solution

Safe-truck is a paper-based solution that enables operators to conduct pre-shift checks of their trucks in minutes and also provides a visible indicator clearly stating if the truck is safe to use or not.

The product consists of a status paddle being attached to each truck. When empty, this paddle indicates that the truck is unsafe for use i.e. it has not been inspected.

Before each shift, a safety certificate is completed by working through a checklist, ticking each item as it is inspected. As this checklist is completed, an inspection log is automatically generated, providing a master log of all inspections undertaken.

Assuming that there are no problems with the truck, the certificate is torn from the pad, folded in half to reveal its ‘green’ status and inserted into the status paddle indicating that the truck has been inspected and is safe for use.

Defects can be handled in 2 ways. The first option is that the certificate is passed to the maintenance department detailing any problems and the paddle left empty indicating that the truck is unsafe.

The second option is that the certificate is placed inside the paddle with the ‘red’ status showing, indicating that the truck is unsafe for use. The truck can then be transported to a maintenance workshop for attention.

The system provides a disciplined method for truck inspection through the use of status paddles and the checklist but also provides an instant visible clarification that the truck is safe to use.

What the customer said…
“I found that the FLT inspection system was great for storage reasons and makes it all look much more professional than in house A5 bits of card all over the place. It is easy for me as a manager to see if the checks have been done as it is very visual. It is also cheaper than our previous in house design by a long way”.

Morris Homes are one of the largest independent housebuilders in the country. With over 50 years experience building award winning homes, they pride themselves on outstanding build quality, high specification, good design and energy efficiency. Indeed, Morris was the first housebuilder in the UK to comply with the Government’s SAP 80+  accreditation for scheme energy efficiency.

The Challenge

Whilst Morris Homes already had a scaffold inspection system in place, they wanted to introduce a system that produced evidence that the inspection had taken place. The system had to be user friendly so that busy Site Managers and qualified scaffolders wouldn’t feel that the completion of the inspection was becoming cumbersome.

The SG World Solution 

SG World’s Safe-scaff inspection system which was designed in conjunction with the CITB is a paper-based system that allows a scaffold inspection to be undertaken quickly and easily.

The product consists of a set of safety certificates featuring a checklist of items to be inspected and a set of Scaffold Status paddles.

Before the inspection takes place, the paddle which is fitted to the scaffold indicates that the scaffold is unsafe for use.

As each certificate is completed, a log is automatically generated that provides a chronological list of all inspections undertaken.  

Once the certificate has been successfully completed, it is placed inside the paddle indicating that it is now safe for use.

Should a scaffold fail its inspection, then the reasons are recorded on the certificate which is passed to the Site Manager for rectification. The paddle remains untouched indicating that the scaffold is still unsafe to use.

What the customer said…  

“After installing Safe-scaff, subsequent scaffold audits by the safety department have shown a significant improvement in the quality of scaffolds on our sites and Site Managers report that the system is user friendly and works well in the context of housebuilding. However, the most impressive statistic arrived recently when I completed the accident analysis for the past year. The number of accidents attributable wholly or in part to a scaffold defect had fallen from 17% to 1.7% - a huge improvement by any standard”.

Lisa McCaulder

Health & Safety Director

Morris Homes