Going digital to boost supermarket safety

Press Release: 26 July 2016

Going digital to boost supermarket safety

Helping ensure grocery supplier representatives and merchandisers who go into supermarkets come out safely is the driving force behind new technology being rolled out by online training company Intuto.

In the latest Food and Grocery Council Leaders Series video, Intuto CEO Richard Warren explains how his company worked with FGC 10 years ago to develop the safety induction education programme, Safe In Store Pass. Richard talks about moves to take it online and then to a digital pass to make it easier and more accessible to suppliers and stores.

“The Safe in Store Pass provides a measure of the level of compliance for anybody going into a food store on a professional basis. What it does is a general health and safety induction that targets the risks and hazards that you’ll find in a food store, both in the front of house and out in the store room and in the surrounding areas such as car parks.”

Over the years it’s been updated six or seven times to keep up with new legislation, risks, and learnings, but now the whole project has been digitised.

“So we will still have online courses but it’ll also provide an app for mobile devices. The benefits are that you’ll be able to complete the course online.

“You’ll not only get your normal hard-copy pass but you’ll also have the pass and all your details available on your mobile device so if you’ve lost your pass it won’t stop you going into a store – you’ll be able to show your mobile device.”

The app will allow them to track if those going into stores have been properly inducted, and enable retailers to use it as a sign-in tool and to upload site-specific inductions.

“Our vision is to be able to make sure everybody who goes into stores has been properly inducted, and the records are kept accurately so in the event there is an incident we can go back and find out if they were covered and were they inducted properly.

“And as people are starting to record their incidents and issues we’re going to find we can provide really solid data to make sure those issues and incidents are addressed by store owners, manufacturers and by the people themselves. And that’s ultimately what we’re trying to achieve – to make sure everybody who goes into a store goes home safely.”

FGC Chief Executive Katherine Rich says the Safe In Store Pass system is another great example of the entire grocery industry working together to improve safety across the sector. The safety training has proved to a key part in promoting health and safety, and the move to technology should further aid that.

“The training system is easy to use and a simple way of dealing with a complex issue to ensure every supplier who enters a supermarket has a good understanding of the risks and goes home safely every day, and we all applaud that.”

View Richard Warren on the FGC YouTube channel here

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