Americold Logistics is a Fortune 500 cold storage provider and global leader in the temperature-controlled supply chain industry. The company operates more than 200 cold storage warehouses that support producers, retailers, food service providers, and consumers around the world. Americold was experiencing an above-average recordable injury rate resulting in direct annual losses of over $1,000,000 per year at several of its distribution centers. In addition to direct losses, safety incidents created costly disruptions and inefficiencies throughout Americold’s operations.
Corporate would call every month and say: 'Your safety incidents are going through the roof.' That 'bucket' is a big expense. But I’m a labor management guy, a software guy, I know how to use the tools we have to increase productivity. So even though we had all these injuries, we increased productivity 20%. If you put $1,000,000 on the bottom line and then you have $800,000 of losses, it still looks like you’re $200,000 in the green in a really bad year. But the next year, I didn’t get those productivity gains. Now [safety] is in the cross-hairs of 'We need to fix this.' "
Brian Bensonformer Americold Manager
Americold chose Voxel's safety intelligence platform for its comprehensive site visibility, incredible hazard detection, and intuitive safety tracking dashboards. Voxel identified inefficient practices like open doors, and unsafe behaviors like speeding to reduce energy costs and prevent collisions. Voxel’s data and analytics empowered Americold leaders to make impactful changes in their safety trainings and coaching techniques, ultimately reshaping the facility's safety culture.
With the video clips and analytics from Voxel, we created a ‘Caught You Being Safe’ program where we rewarded employees who practiced safe behaviors. When it came to unsafe practices, like poor ergonomics lifting heavy boxes, we moved away from disciplinary methods and instead used it as a teaching moment. I’d say, ‘Hey, I’m worried about your lifting technique, here are a few examples. I want to save your back, you’ve only got one.’ It really strengthened the relationship between supervisors and workers."
Brian Bensonformer Americold Manager
Voxel helped catalyze a safety culture transformation at Americold, fostering seamless camaraderie amongst employees to carefully meet business and customer demands. The outcome of prioritizing employee safety: up to 90% reduction in unsafe behaviors, zero days missed from work due to injury (down from 288), and substantial cost savings of $1.1 million, along with the elimination of OSHA citations and penalties.
Voxel is life-changing for this industry, for warehousing and distribution. I can see the big picture: it’s not just the indemnities. Think of all the indirect costs involved in preventing one incident, let alone multiple. More than a couple can bring your whole company to its knees.”
Brian Bensonformer Americold Manager
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