Case Studies

Bucknell Farms Ltd

‘Handling pigs has its risks and some of those can’t be avoided.’ That was Mr Derek Hedges’ initial feeling when he decided to review Health & Safety at his 500 sow Pig Unit at Bucknell in Oxfordshire. However Derek also had a strong desire to do everything he possibly could to protect his staff and to ensure that he and his family were able to demonstrate that, as responsible employers, they had done everything possible to prove that.

Derek turned to Pig Management Systems to conduct a full audit of the site and to review how risks could be reduced further. ‘PMS are specialists in safety on pig units and I wanted a fresh pair of eyes to look at what we were doing’ commented Derek. The outcomes surprised him; whilst there were obvious risks that needed addressing, some of the highest risks turned out to be issues that had simply been overlooked. ‘Working on the unit, in close partnership with my wife and our staff, we’d become so used to the daily routines that we’d simply started to accept certain things being done in certain ways.’ Derek went on to say ‘It was a useful exercise; we debated some of the recommendations but overall we felt pleased and in a way relieved that improvements could be made in some areas and reassured that we were working safely elsewhere.’

The visit also reviews staff training, talks to staff and fully involves them in talking through how safety can be improved.

‘The most surprising aspect of the whole process, over the last three years, has been that it has not stopped us working efficiently; if anything we’ve tweaked our systems to iron out some habits and it has for sure emphasised to our team that safety is paramount and that we need to look after each other and the younger people coming into the unit to train and to learn’ he concluded.