SPC ‘leads’ world rubber industry with health & wellbeing standard

Westbury, UK – SPC Compounding is among the first rubber manufacturers in the world to gain the ISO 45001:2018 standard for occupational health, safety and wellbeing, the company has announced 19 Dec.

The attainment reflects the focus on “stringent processes and the highest levels of safety excellence” at SPC’s manufacturing plants at Westbury, England and Maerdy, Wales, according to a statement from the compounder.

ISO 45001 encompassed more than 170 processes and procedures, said SPC’s UK quality manager Warren Bates, noting ten months’ work with the British Standards Institute “to ensure our processes are robust and our documentation met the requirements of the standard.”

The standard complements the quality management system standard ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015, which SPC has also recently renewed.

“Achieving ISO 45001 was a strategic objective for SPC, said Paul Hallas, SPC director. “Our dedication to health and safety is internationally recognised through the award of this standard.”

Introduced in 2018, ISO 45001 is said to be the world’s first international standard for occupational health and safety. It replaces previous similar safety management standards, such as OHSAS 18001 in the UK.

The standard is designed to help organisations provide safe and healthy working conditions that prevent work-related injury and ill health, and proactively improve the occupational health and safety performance.

Achieving ISO 45001 “requires an organisation’s leaders to lead by example and involves consultation with every level of employee,” SPC’s statement further pointed out.

Image: Neville Coulman demonstrates the required use of personal protective equipment and knife safety skills at SPC’s Maerdy plant in Wales.