Responsible Care Award

About the award

This Award goes to the company or site which has excelled in Responsible Care by demonstrating leadership and a creative approach.

This entry provided a solid demonstration of GSK’s commitment to the key principles of Responsible Care. The judges were particularly impressed by the strong evidence of positive leadership, effective employee engagement, and the support given to local communities through the site’s comprehensive outreach programme

For 73 years, GSK Ulverston has manufactured Cephalosporin antibiotics to supply worldwide markets under the Zinnat brand. Every year 30 million patients are made well by taking Zinnat. The site has also provided employment and training for thousands of Cumbrian people over the years.

Driven by their philosophy of not harming the environment, employees, or community, GSK Ulverston has continually improved its Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) performance throughout that time.

EHS is the first item on the agenda at every level of the daily Tiered Accountability Process (TAP) and is driven by leaders at all levels. The four tiers of the TAP allow for EHS issues, improvements, and successes to be owned, discussed, actioned, escalated, and resolved at the right level of the organisation. All levels of Leaders promote high standards by conducting regular Process Confirmations, Gemba and “Check-ins” on subjects such as Permit to Work, Process Safety, Chemical Containment, and Risk Assessment.

GSK Ulverston has undergone significant changes over recent years (and continues to). Such changes can adversely impact employee Health and Wellbeing. The site has striven to combat this by conducting significant risk assessments and subsequent mitigation plans. This includes 1:1 check-ins between leaders and team members, ready access to Employee Assistance Programmes, training of Peer Supporters, 1:1 coaching, mentoring, and leader capability build via “Mental Health Matters” training. The site is in the midst of a Personal and Professional Development and Retraining programme to prepare employees for future opportunities.

In high hazard industries, incidents still happen; when they do, GSK Ulverston prides itself on learning from them to become better. GSK Ulverston investigates incidents fully to unearth the Root Cause and Contributory Factors. This enables the correct actions to be identified and implemented to ensure no repeat. The long-term, continually improving performance on Loss of Containment and injuries illustrate this. The site’s recent Decontamination, Deconstruction and Demolition (3Ds) programme and associated Management System is held up as best practice by the HSE and EA. The site has subsequently presented to the CIA Process Safety Network, coached teams from GSK UK, Australia, and Singapore in the 3Ds programme as well as hosting CIA member companies wishing to learn from Ulverston.

All employees have a mature EHS understanding brought about by continuous inclusion of EHS in daily discussions at all organisational levels. Consultation and communication with employees occur via EHS Councils, Safety Representatives, and monthly Leadership & Employee Representative meetings. The use of GSK’s Social Media platform allows for “in the moment” EHS communication with employees alongside monthly “Let’s Talk” Town Halls and more traditional communication methods. Process Safety capability build is also central to maintaining a progressive safety culture. The EHS culture is exemplified by excellent contributions by all staff in the use of the Zero Accident Promotion (ZAP) tool. Employees submit near misses, positive safety conversations, EHS Improvements, and EHS coaching opportunities. Monthly recognition forms a key part of this.

The site is committed to the local community. This is exemplified by its commitment to donate land to new industry in the area and a significant retraining budget for employees leaving the business. The site is justifiably proud of donating the site sports club for 12 months as a Covid-19 Vaccination Centre. This resulted in more than 47,000 vaccinations and was supported by volunteers from the site. The site released employees from work duties once every two weeks to complete marshal shifts at the centre.

In 2023, the site reached the landmark of 10,000 students passing through its long-standing STEM programme. An excellent legacy for the site to leave.