4 July 2024

We are delighted to announce that Shoreham Port has won the ‘Best Safety Moment’ award at the inaugural Port Skills and Safety Awards.

The Port Skills and Safety (PSS) Awards are designed to recognise outstanding achievements in improving safety and skills within the port sector, and to further organisations’ commitment to sharing best practices. The top three entries in each of the three award categories had the opportunity to present their projects at the PSS Members’ Conference, which took place in London during Maritime Safety Week 2024. Winners were then chosen by their peers through a live voting process. 

The Best Safety Moment award was designed to recognise a PSS member who has made a significant and positive impact on safety within their port or the wider port sector. It acknowledges projects and initiatives that engage port workers and promote the importance of all aspects of port health, safety, and wellbeing. We earned the award for a new colleague-led innovation, developed collaboratively across various teams, which we are calling the ‘dunnage placement tool’. 

At Shoreham Port, we continuously strive to eliminate risks from our operations wherever possible. While most timber packs can be loaded with dunnage attached, there are occasions when adjustments are needed, requiring our colleagues to work at height. Our Operations team identified a method to place dunnage correctly without the need to work at height. Through extensive collaboration and engagement with colleagues at all levels, our team developed an innovative handheld ‘dunnage placement tool’ that has eliminated the need for working at height during lorry loading, significantly enhancing the safety of our operations.

Nicky Brown, Safety, Operations & Logistics Director, commented “It was a privilege to present our latest innovation alongside my team and demonstrate how, through high collaboration and engagement with colleagues at all levels, we have created a unique tool that eliminates the need to work at height during lorry loading, making our team significantly safer without compromising operational efficiency.  

We believe this tool could greatly improve safety for many more workers and we are excited to share this solution with others. Any port handling break bulk cargoes and currently placing dunnage by hand could benefit – we encourage our peers to reach out if they are interested in learning more.”

Categories: Maritime, Announcements