“No more cuts” we say to chefs at Centro Colombo

Abstract

The management team at Centro Colombo identified cuts as having accounted for a considerable number of safety incidents occurring in the shopping centre in 2015. Keen to address this trend, the team engaged selected restaurant units in a safety project that involved identifying protective measures that could be used with key kitchen utensils and appliances and following up on their effective practice through a programme of unannounced kitchen safety checks. With an investment of approximately €150, this project enabled Centro Colombo to embed safe practices among tenants’ staff and, most importantly, contributed to a 18% reduction in the number of tenant safety incidents occurring in the shopping centre. Having demonstrated its effectiveness and earned positive feedback from tenants, this approach will be now be replicated with other tenant units.

Introduction

Centro Colombo is our largest shopping centre in Portugal and the best known centre in Lisbon. Within over 114,000m² of GLA it offers 338 shops, including more than 60 restaurants, and welcomes around 25 million visitors every year. In keeping with Sonae Sierra’s Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) policies, Centro Colombo operates in accordance with ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001- certified environmental and safety and health (S&H) management systems, and the shopping centre management team strive to identify and implement actions to improve SHE performance on an ongoing basis.

A S&H analysis carried out in 2015 showed that, after falls, the second most frequent type of accident in Centro Colombo was cuts, which occurred most often among restaurant units. The shopping centre management team decided to investigate this trend in greater depth and identify some solutions to reduce the frequency of these accidents, starting with tenant engagement.

Background

Incidents occurring in our shopping centres can cause harm to people and expose us to risks such as reputational damage and fines. On the other hand, a progressive approach to safety and health can help to protect people, reduce insurance costs, reduce staff absence and enhance a company’s reputation. Ensuring the health and safety of our stakeholders including employees, suppliers, tenants and shopping centre visitors is an ongoing priority, and Sonae Sierra has set ambitious targets to provide a safe environment for everyone who visits or works within a Sonae Sierra shopping centre, aiming towards zero accidents. In 2016, all shopping centres were instructed to assess the most common types of level 3, 4 and 5 accidents that occurred on each site during the previous year and identify actions to be taken to prevent their reoccurrence.

Challenge

With this in mind, Centro Colombo had to address the challenge of how to reduce the incidence of cuts among tenants’ staff. They had to consider the type of work with the highest risk of cuts, the types of tasks which involved the use of sharp objects and the protective equipment that could and should be used when handling them. They also had to determine how best to convince shop managers and employees to recognize the problem and take part in a project of accident prevention.

Solution

First of all, the management team at Centro Colombo identified the nine restaurant units which had registered the highest number of accidents involving cuts in 2015. They then worked with each restaurant to define the protective equipment and behavioural measures which should be taken to avoid cuts when using the wide range of different kitchen utensils and appliances present in the restaurant kitchens.

Having done the background work, the team then established a system to check that each restaurant unit was complying with the safety rules; adopting the correct equipment and behaviour when working in the kitchens. Over the course of one month, weekly unannounced visits were made to each restaurant kitchen, and a spot check was made to assess conformance with the safety criteria. Based on the outcome of the check, a simple analysis of each tenant’s performance was made using a ‘traffic light’ system which could be visibly seen within the store. A prize was offered to the restaurant unit with the most ‘green lights’.

All in all, 36 visits were made, involving a total of approximately four hours of the shopping centre management team’s time, and a monetary investment of approximately €150 was made to create the ‘traffic light’ assessment boards and purchase prizes. According to the feedback received from tenants, it was worth the effort: 78% of tenants considered the project to have been “excellent” for their team and the remaining 22% said it was “very good”. Furthermore, data from 2016 showed that their efforts contributed to an 18% reduction in the number of tenant safety incidents compared with 2015.

Further unannounced visits will be made to the tenant units in the future to ensure ongoing compliance with the safety rules, and data will be monitored on a continuous basis to check that the frequency of accidents continues to decline.

“It was a really good project which raised awareness among staff about the safe use of knifes and other kitchen utensils” – Liliana Batista, Manager of Alentejo, Pão, Azeite e Alho

“This project was very important because it made staff more aware about the dangers of using sharp tools which are damaged or do not have a protective casing” – Edgar Vaz, Deputy Manager of Italian Republic

Closure

The effective reduction in accidents and positive feedback from tenants demonstrate that good results can be achieved with little investment. The team at Centro Colombo found a way to engage stakeholders and further embed a culture of safe behaviour with a positive outcome for all involved. The project is now being rolled out to other restaurant units in Centro Colombo. Moreover, the style of engagement can be replicated by other Sonae Sierra shopping centres and be used to engage with other types of tenants whose businesses pose different safety risks.