British Frozen Food, Health and Safety Conference 2024

I attended an enjoyable and insightful conference hosted by the British Frozen Food Federation at the British Motor Museum last Thursday and had the pleasure of catching up with some familiar faces from over the years, as well as having the opportunity to meet new leaders in industry.

Rupert kickstarted the day with a brief introduction and BFFF Update, highlighting the historic milestone, 100 years of the frozen food industry. This was followed closely by Andy Cartwright CFIOSH,FIIRSM RSP, AIEMA, MIIAI ; who led a talk on workplace transport, focusing on pallet truck safety and challenging common myths.

Simon Brentnall CMIOSH then led a brilliant leadership presentation, sharing real-life case studies covering the "Good, Bad and Ugly" of leadership. This session really illustrated the profound impact of leadership and organisational culture on outcomes, both positive and negative, and highlighted the undeniable benefits of being a hands on, engaging, positive H&S leader. The overarching message was that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to leadership and culture, but that understanding leaders' motivations, strengths, and weaknesses is crucial for driving positive change.

Michael Clark from the NFU, ran through innovative ways to appropriately tackle claims investigation and the importance of a high quality and timely witness statement.

David Lancaster an impressive motivational speaker, shared his approach on how to create an impactful presentation, and how to get the most out of your audience and gave us all lots to think about for any upcoming power points!

This was followed by a very engaging legal update by Louise Mansfield who discussed key trends and the impact of mental health on the industry. She really had us thinking on our feet during a game of "RIDDOR or not to RIDDOR" and shared some brilliant and very practical advice.

A personal highlight for me was when Craig Foyle shared his journey, "A Different kind of 10K" which was an inspiring reflection of his career, including how he pushed himself out of his comfort zone, his experiences so far in H&S, and how he has influenced the industry globally. The session outlined how important it is to be people centric, engage, and have the ability to influence others, and the discovery of safety cowboy boots!

Michael Cox highlighted a brilliant piece of new tech, which has improved driver safety, made safety data accessible and usable which has revolutionised transport safety for his clients.

Peter Jenkins then shared his expertise on how to digitise, automate, and simplify, H&S data through Microsoft 365; a low cost approach to utilise existing tools to marry scalable frameworks and operational excellence together, bridging the gap between work imagined and work done within a business.

David Butter promoted how to take a proactive approach to M.S.D risk assessment within the manufacturing sector, showcased the new body mapping tool and shared his success to get buy in from others, promoting the workforce to "look after your future self".

A big thank you to Simon Brentnall CMIOSH , Rupert Ashby and team for hosting a brilliant day, excited to see you at next years conference - roll on 2025!