
Company
Established in 1998, Spectrum is an innovative supplier of cleaning and hygiene products, serving businesses throughout the UK and beyond.
Industry
Cleaning and hygiene
Spectrum Cleaning Solutions is a long-established cleaning and hygiene supplies business focused on delivering excellent customer service. Spectrum aren’t just box shifters – they offer service beyond distribution, with a team of professionals on hand to provide hygiene management advice and assistance with COSHH compliance, helping their clients maximise productivity and effectiveness in all matters relating to cleaning and hygiene.
Challenges
Overwhelmed by the admin
Spectrum’s Competent Person, Mark Mullin, is responsible for H&S audits, staff inductions, training and refresher courses, vehicle fleet checks, maintaining a library of information on over 500 COSHH products and completing task-specific risk assessments and method statements, amongst other things.
While the business was fully compliant prior to CRAMS being introduced, this administrative burden was unsustainable.
Training costs
Due to budget restrictions, Spectrum’s staff were trained only to ensure minimal compliance. There was also a cost associated with the time Mark spent chasing staff who had outstanding training and refresher courses, as he needed to access the existing system daily to determine what was overdue.
Safety Data Sheets
Providing every delivery driver with all the Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) relevant to the chemicals they were transporting was particularly difficult, as was the process of reaching out to manufacturers to check for updated documents.
We had a problem where a particular policy wasn’t being adhered to by some staff, so we set it to renew every three months. After a couple of reviews at this interval we found that the message had been taken on board, so we could drop the review period back down to six months. It’s been a great tool to get messages to staff and ensure they’re adequately reminded of what’s expected of them to keep everyone safe.
Mark Mullin
Distribution Manager
How CRAMS has helped
Spectrum believe that implementing CRAMS has allowed them to nurture a positive health and safety culture within the organisation. The software has made H&S simpler to manage and staff now find it easier to understand their responsibilities. Staff members also appear to be much happier while fulfilling their H&S obligations.
CRAMS helps Spectrum’s Competent Person conduct thorough audits and update existing processes, policies and other documentation. This has led to a significant cost saving as H&S visits from external providers are no longer required.
CRAMS has made Spectrum self-sufficient with regards health and safety management. We used to frequently pay for H&S consultancy, but since CRAMS was introduced we rarely require help as everything is so simple to edit or add to. We’re now confident in managing our own compliance, which is something I never thought we could achieve.
Kelsey Moss
General Manager
Managers at Spectrum say CRAMS has provided them with more control and a better overall view of their health and safety compliance.
Outcome
Lessening the administrative burden
Inducting new staff members used to involve a mountain of paperwork and lots of time spent trying to find everything required for that specific role. Spectrum’s managers now simply add new staff members to CRAMS and assign their occupations – the system will then distribute all the H&S documents, policies and information pertinent to their role.
The integrated SDS library is updated automatically,so Spectrum can rest easy knowing that when their drivers leave the depot, they’re able to use their smartphones to access SDSs for all of the chemicals they’re transporting.
Training for everyone
Practically all of Spectrum’s training requirements have been met by the courses included with CRAMS. Staff have access to the full training library and the process of notifying staff members that training is overdue is automated. Mark says he now feels like he’s in control and no longer needs to check the system daily, as he and managers receive email updates to ensure they’re fully appraised.
Policies that are adhered to
Before CRAMS was implemented, the introduction of new laws or guidance meant rewriting a document before printing and sending two copies to each member of staff: one copy to sign, return and file, the other to be kept by the staff member.
Now it’s just a case of making a quick edit to the policy document on CRAMS before all staff are requested to read and acknowledge any changes. Spectrum say this is saving a significant amount of time and money, and is helping them meet their objectives to use less paper.
After managers at Spectrum had used CRAMS for three months, they were asked:
- Has the introduction of CRAMS helped you to create/foster a health and safety culture at your property?
- Has CRAMS improved your and/or your team’s productivity with regards managing health and safety?
- Does the use of CRAMS help you ensure your operation is compliant with health and safety regulations and Spectrum’s policies/mandates?
- Does CRAMS – with its documentation, review process and available training – make your operation safer?
They were also asked what they’d miss most if they no longer had access to CRAMS…
- The full system – they said they’d be lost without it.
- The training and refreshers.
- Email notifications rather than having to look to see what is due.
- Having the tools to create quick and easy risk assessments.
- The integrated SDS library.
- The accident reporting system.
- Policy management.
- Having all documents in one place.
- Having a paperless system.
- Being able to audit everything.