Behavioural Safety At Suttons International

To keep our fleet of over 14,000 tank containers in top condition while serving a global customer base, we conduct regular inspections and maintenance. We believe in promoting behavioural safety to ensure our engineers and technicians remain safe while operating on our tanks.

Through proper training, we aim to reinforce behavioural safety in daily behaviour. To achieve this, we have established our six ‘Safety Values’ which sit alongside our company Core Values. All members of our technical team understand and live by these values as they would our core values. The Safety Values, defined by our team of health and safety experts, are clearly communicated to all our technical colleagues across the business to promote proactive behavioural safety knowledge and best practices specific to tank container maintenance, such as Confined Space Entry, Working at Height, and Exposure to Hazardous Substances.

Regular observation and feedback are crucial to maintaining high levels of behavioural safety. We conduct a rigorous schedule of audits by supervisors and managers, who observe their team complete hazardous activities to ensure they are behaving in the correct way. These observations are always followed up with an open conversation between the manager and technician to discuss any changes to behaviour that may be required and a chance to feedback on the procedure.

Alongside our regularly scheduled internal audits we also offer all colleagues a chance to communicate any unsafe behaviours or safety issues that have observed with the management team. Our technicians are encouraged to communicate any safety concerns or issues they encounter.  We are proud of the culture of open communication we have fostered to promote continuous improvement in our safety.

Positive reinforcement is used to encourage behavioural safety across our business. By recording ‘Near Miss Reports’ colleagues can describe in detail any potential incidents or unsafe behaviours they have observed.  These reports are actioned by managers to ensure corrective actions are made and each month the reports are reviewed by a leadership team, who selects one from each region as the ‘Near Miss of the Month’, awarding £50 to the individual who submitted the winning report.

By promoting behavioural safety, we are equipping our technical staff with the skills and knowledge to take personal responsibility for their own safety and that of their colleagues to ensure our operation, tank containers, and the wider logistics industry are as safe as can be.