Building a Safer Workplace Through Volunteer Expertise and Local Ingenuity
After a few safety incidents occurred at Fastizers Food and Confectionary Limited’s facility in Nigeria, PFS Program Manager Toju Ukubeyinje thought it a good opportunity to offer them an occupational health and safety (OHS) refresh.
“Fastizers produces cookies, biscuits and other confectionaries beloved by the Nigerian populace. After a couple of accidents happened within the span of two weeks, I realized that Fastizers would benefit greatly from the expertise of an OHS professional who could guide them to identify the root causes and gaps and implement preventative measures across the production process,” said Toju. Based on this, PFS recruited General Mills project and system engineer Javier Valganon on an ‘Ask-an-expert' (AAE) project to improve Fastizers OHS culture.
As head of health, safety and environment at the General Mills’ San Adrián plant in Spain, Javier Valganon was a perfect fit for this AAE. Javier began volunteering with PFS to share his knowledge and experience with food processors in other parts of the world, he said. “I have always felt the desire to help to the extent of my abilities, especially when it concerns people's safety. In all the projects I have participated in, what I have always received in return has been more than I have been able to deliver, which makes it a truly enriching experience.”
Javier tackled the project with a two-fold approach. His first focus was on the equipment – which within the parameters of OHS must be designed to be safe and have mechanisms to prevent harm to people. “Our immediate actions were to install the necessary devices on the equipment to avoid accidents during production,” he said. “The most interesting challenges we had to address on this project were those related to the availability of technology associated with costs, but these were satisfactorily resolved with the local team looking for alternatives, once we had established the bases for safe work. “
The second approach is instilling a strong safety and health culture in the company by increasing people's perception and awareness of risk. Javier considers this a more medium-to long-term approach, as his years of experience have demonstrated that this kind of cultural change takes place only after sustained, consistent effort over time. However, the Fastizers team have been encouraged to continue to provide regular OHS training to all employees, tailored for specific job roles and risk levels. They have also been urged to maintain open lines of communication between management and employees regarding safety concerns, policy updates, and incident reporting and the use of visual reminders such as posters and safety boards to keep OHS guidelines top-of-mind.
Working with Fastizers has given Javier a different perspective on how African processors strive to produce safe food despite the many logistical and financial hindrances they face. “Working with this wonderful team, I have come to the realization that thinking outside the box can lead to imaginative and simple solutions to common problems.”
Toju could not agree more. “The combination of Javier’s expertise and Fastizers’ agility led us to unlock practical solutions that addressed the OHS challenges in ways we might never have anticipated. This is how PFS facilitates thinking creatively together to find solutions that make a real difference for clients."