Driving safety standards in challenging circumstances

Supporting safety standards in difficult and dangerous industries

A water company needed a PPE supplier that could fulfil a range of requirements.

A wide variety of factors can make maintaining robust health and safety standards difficult. Certain sectors, for example, are inherently more dangerous than others, perhaps because of the environment or materials involved, while some industries face operational challenges such as sites in remote locations.

In these situations, being able to rely on your PPE supplier to provide the right products at the right time is crucial. A transactional relationship is not enough – you need a trusted partner, a specialist that understands barriers to safety and can help you to avoid them by providing tailored solutions. This case study demonstrates the difference that such a partnership can make.

Water is both a dangerous industry and one characterised by operational challenges including multiple sites, often in isolated spots. It is also a heavily regulated industry, subject to rigorous health and safety legislation designed to keep its workforce, and the wider public, safe. All of this means that water companies need trusted partners that they can rely upon to fulfil their PPE requirements.

This particular customer is a major British water company committed to eliminating all health and safety incidents. To maintain its treatment and supply network, which provides billions of litres of water to its eight million customers every day, it relies on a 7,000 strong workforce that includes many in operational and engineering roles.

As a result, the customer’s PPE requirements were extensive. The company needed 50 orders a day, comprising a wide range of high quality and fully compliant PPE products, consistently delivered on time and in full to multiple UK-wide locations. It also wanted engineers to have 24/7 access to emergency stock.

RS and its dedicated PPE, hygiene and workwear arm, RS Safety Solutions, created a bespoke package of solutions to fulfil all of these needs. First, RS created a tailor-made catalogue of PPE products that provides quick and easy access to hi-vis workwear, gloves, helmets and footwear as well as hearing, eye, respiratory and body protection, selected to meet the specific needs of employees operating in a range of roles and environments.

Second, RS introduced the PunchOut eProcurement tool, which allows the customer to select products and access information including orders, returns and purchase history. Once an order is placed, it automatically enters the RS SAP system for checking. For more specialist PPE requests and large volume orders that need delivering to specific locations, the customer is still able to raise manual purchase orders.

Third, RS installed RS VendStock®, an industrial vending solution that houses items close to where they are required, to provide 24-hour access to emergency PPE. RS also replenishes the machines every week, freeing up the customer’s stores team to focus on value-adding activities.

Finally, RS holds regular review meetings with the customer to discuss supply chain issues, legislative changes and new PPE products, and undertakes regular site visits to take staff measurements, helping to ensure that workwear still fits properly and hence is suitable and safe for the job.

The partnership between the water company and RS is thriving. RS consistently exceeds the customer’s monthly on time, in full performance measures for suppliers, achieving scores of 94-98%. As a result, the customer is now sharing details about how RS operates with other vendors to nurture best practice across its supplier base. RS can also bring this best practice into your organisation.

Head back to our PPE page to see how else we can support you with your PPE requirements today.