Plant & Bean is a food manufacturer on a mission to enable the world to eat affordable, high-quality, plant-based meat. Their factory in Lincolnshire is Europe’s largest plant-based factory that will help brands meet the fast-growing demands of plant-based meats.
About Company
Plant & Bean first began as the meat-free division within Brecks Food’s. With a proven 20-year track record of supplying plant-based meats to market-leading brands and retailers, they spun-off to become an independent company in 2019.
With a mission to support ‘real change’ in the food system, Plant & Bean have big ambitions to replicate their Lincolnshire plant-based food factory in the US and Asia by the end of 2022.
Plant & Bean employs night-shift security contract workers to protect their factory when the factory is not in operation at night. More often than not, the security guards will be working alone.
As contracted employees, they didn’t have a central hub to report to. Additionally, no manager in Plant & Bean wanted to be available from 6 pm to 6 am, seven days a week, to answer any emergency calls from the guards.
The company needed to quickly find a solution that could ensure the safety and performance of their security guards.
What were their goals?
After conducting a risk assessment, Plant & Bean identified the biggest risks their security guards faced: slips, trips, and falls and acts of violence. The company understood that these health and safety risks are exacerbated because their security guards fall into three types of high-risk categories.
The first high-risk category is that they are lone workers. Without any teammates or supervisors around, nobody would know if the security guard had an accident that left them immobile, unconscious, or otherwise unable to call for help.
Secondly, they work on night shift. This can increase dangers in a few ways. Low light can make them more vulnerable to slips, trips, and falls. The risk of acts of violence also increases under low light, since those with bad intentions are more likely to attempt a crime or attack under the cover of the night.
Finally, the worksite is located in a remote location. This means help is further away. It also makes it exceedingly unlikely for bystanders to be around who can help or call for help if the guards had an accident or face an onsite altercation.
Each of these categories is high-risk on its own. When combined, it only further compounds every risk they face. Thus, the company’s primary concern was monitoring their security guards’ safety.
The company’s secondary concern was ensuring the guards were conducting their job and doing their regular patrols. Without any teammates or supervisors, they needed a way to monitor the security guard’s performance to keep their factory secure at night.
Ideally, Plant & Bean wants a solution that can help them achieve both objectives and give all parties peace of mind.
What did they do?
Plant & Bean found their ideal solution with a blend of Vatix’s lone worker safety devices and app, both of which integrate with Protector™, our cloud-based monitoring system. Plant & Bean opted for our ‘Monitored by Vatix’ approach, which will forward all alerts directly to a 24/7 Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) managed by our partner monitoring stations in the UK.
Through this blend, Plant & Bean could monitor both the safety and performance of their contracted security guards without needing to trouble their internal managers. The Safe Pro Device is equipped with GPS, two way audio with multi-network SIM card, SOS button, and man down alarm features. The SOS button makes it easy for the security guard to alert the monitoring team that they’re in trouble, while the man down alarm will send an automatic alert when a fall is detected.
The two-way audio makes it easy to establish communication. Since it is equipped with a multi-network SIM, the device is effective even in low signal environments—an ideal choice for the factory’s remote location that has poor 4G coverage.
Finally, the combined blend with the app makes it easy for the security guards to regularly report through their shifts, allowing the monitoring team to confirm every hour that not only are the guards safe but they are also conducting their patrolling duties.
Results
Vatix’s Safe Pro devices coupled with the Protector™ platform helped give Plant & Bean’s security guards the peace of mind that there is a system where they can call for assistance. The organisation also has peace of mind that their security guards’ safety is being monitored, even though they are working alone at night at a remote location.
As a bonus, the system also allows the guards to regularly check in with the monitoring team and ensure they are conducting their patrolling duties.
“The system basically discharges our duties from a health and safety perspective, both legally and morally. The security guards have taken to it really well actually, which is always, always good to see. Overall, I think the system is exceedingly valuable. We’re not only protecting our own site. We’re protecting the security guards too.”
Mike Evans
Interim Health & Safety Manager
