Safegard

The constant increase in government and EU regulations has made environmental health and safety a critical issue for every organisation, and a vital responsibility of management. Widespread media attention has also increased public awareness of food crises and scares, public concern over the effects of major environmental accidents.

We work with a wide range of organisations, developing and implementing strategies for them which encompass one more critical areas: food safety, workplace health and safety, fire safety, food safety, environmental management including, energy conservation, supplier compliance, crisis management and many related training needs. Safegard solutions are fully integrated, enabling you to deal with just one expert organisation rather than sourcing each service separately.

Our client partnerships embrace public and private sector operations: from hotel and leisure groups to manufacturing and retain chains; from schools, universities and hospitals to police authorities and water companies.

Assuring food safety throughout the supply chain minimises the risk of contaminated food entering a client establishment. As part of our leading edge work in this market, we have developed a comprehensive Code of Practice for all food manufacturers, distributors and suppliers. It is against this Code of Practice that we carry out our audits.

We provide assistance in the management of food safety and hygiene in more than 3,500 Sodexo catering operations in addition to more than 100 hotels and other high profile restaurant businesses.

Safegard has developed comprehensive food safety manuals for Sodexo and many other clients. These manuals provide practical guidance on how to comply with company standards for food hygiene and catering safety. The use of software solutions, either via CD or data disk, enables managers to access information quickly.

The requirements of food safety legislation are increasingly directed at the implementation of the principles of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) within catering establishments. To assist with this important food safety requirement, Safegard has incorporated ‘Assured Safe Catering’ within its food safety manual; a system that identifies the food safety hazards and the important controls associated with menu items. Safegard clients are provided with assistance for the training of food handlers, and the regular audits carried out by the Safegard Environmental Health team will assess current performance as well as identify training needs.

Safegard has accredited Sodexo’s Food Safety Policies and Procedures with its ‘Home Authority’, a scheme administered by the Local Authority Co-ordinating body for Food and Trading Standards (LACOTS). Assistance can be offered to clients with a view to obtaining similar accreditation.

From time to time, even the best-managed business can be faced with a crisis in the form of allegations of food poisoning or foreign material complaints. In this event, Safegard’s regionally-based Environmental Health Executives provide rapid response. With the assistance of our laboratory, their expert handling of the situation will give confidence to your managers, catering teams and customers.

Safegard’s membership of Camden Food Research Association, and involvement with many of its scientific panels, keeps all members of the team up to date on the latest technological developments in food safety and microbiology.

Safegard has total responsibility for food safety and environmental health throughout Sodexo’s catering and support services operation in the UK and we are increasingly called upon to assist Alliance members internationally.

microbiological testing service to clients in the food and catering industry.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require organisations to manage health and safety ‘internally’ and not delegate them to an outside organisation. Safegard anticipated this legislative requirement by almost five years when it introduced its innovative approach to providing clients with the simple, practical assistance they need to comply fully with their responsibilities.

Our health and safety management activities and services encompass safety audits and inspections, training, crisis management, helpline and update facilities. Manuals are available on CD ROM, offering easy access to all the information and simple completion and print-out of forms. Where the conventional approach has been to tell users what to do, the Safegard system also shows exactly how to carry out the task.

Full practical training support is available to ensure that all your staff have a complete understanding of how to carry out procedures such as risk assessment, safe systems of work, inspection of a workplace and the maintenance of records. Expert helpline or on-site support are just a telephone call away, whenever your staff need practical assistance.

Every year, Safegard professionals will carry out independent audits at a frequency agreed with clients, reporting on compliance with your legal and contractual requirements. Our management system will also enable you to undertake your own ‘self-assessments’ by providing you with all the information that you need to simplify the audit procedure. In this way, you can set your own targets for improvement and also reduce the number of site visits that you need to ensure that codes of practice are being upheld on a day-to-day basis. In addition, we monitor changes in legislation on behalf of all our clients, keeping you informed on those issues that are relevant to your organisation.

The company is also official adviser to the National Bursars’ Association on health and safety issues. Specialist solutions for local authorities are offered in partnership with Aon Risk

Services. A health and safety management system for higher and further education has been developed with Royal Holloway University.

For many organisations, the detail of energy conservation and waste management are central to their environmental policy, particularly as both areas are increasingly the target for legislation or regulation.

Working with Energy for Sustainable Development, one of the leading energy management companies, we can recommend simple, cost-free actions that invariably lead to significant savings on energy costs. The creation of an energy-saving culture within an organisation is good for cost reduction as well as good for the environment.

Waste management is another critical area that meets the needs of both environmental protection and organisational self-interest. For many, such as hospitals and manufacturing industry, an effective policy for waste management is a legal requirement. Increasingly, recovery and recyling are also regulated as an enforceable obligation on business.

Sodexo’s own formal environmental policy has been in place in the UK since it was drawn up by Safegard early in 1998. It goes far beyond compliance with legislation, and underlines the company’s duty-of-care for the environment and for the conservation of local, national and global resources. The most recent policy update was completed early in 2000.

The dynamic nature of this complex field makes the experience of Safegard’s professional staff of vital importance to clients. To ensure that they stay at the forefront of our industry, they receive extensive regular training as part of their continuing professional development and the Sodexo commitment to Investors in People accreditation.

All our professional staff are full-time employees and are qualified by examination. They include members of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the Royal Society of Health and the Royal Institution of Public Health and Hygiene. Some are also Registered Safety Practitioners others ‘Lead Assessors’. The expertise of senior managers of the company is recognised by their leading role in many professional and trade bodies.

Every Safegard consultant has wide experience in the private sector. Many have also spent time as enforcement officers and are therefore accustomed to working on compliance with local authorities and the Health & Safety Executive.

The scope of our work is increasing all the time. Recently, we developed a waste management and recycling programme with Land Technology, a Sodexo company that is a market leader in grounds maintenance. The policy is now in place with clients across the UK, including Kensington Palace Gardens.