Case Studies

As founder Joseph Walker’s great grandson Nicky explains, the Walker family now extends beyond those who carry the family name. “We have 1,800 employees working across 6 factories, and we see all of them as part of our extended family here,” Nicky said. “We are particularly keen to support individuals who are looking to grow and develop, and of course their safety and health is really important to us.” 

Nicky Walker is also a former professional footballer who appreciates the benefits of coaching, teamwork and empowerment within an  organisation. In recent years this has led to a culture of training at Walkers Shortbread and also to an impressive transformation in approach to health and safety.

Nicky is full of praise for the company’s health and safety manager Gary Browne, who he appointed in 2009. “Gary has really taken the lead here, and much of that began when he took his NEBOSH Diploma. It gave him the  scope to tackle what is a 100 year old  culture here at Walkers. We’ve grown a lot in recent years with three new  factories and to be fair we had to change. Importantly, Gary has earned  the respect of his colleagues, and for health and safety this has made a big difference.”

Walkers now have an extremely well qualified health and safety team. Gary is supported by two health and safety advisors, Aleksandra Holub and Agnieszka Hennig, both of whom like Gary came from the factory floor. And also like Gary, both have gained the NEBOSH National Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety. However, as Gary explains, the health and safety team, like the Walkers family extends to include all employees. “I often say that although we are the smallest department in the company with only the three of us, we are actually the biggest because everyone is involved in health and safety here now.”

Gary, Aleksandra and Agnieszka use their professional knowledge to support and guide colleagues, rather than simply issuing instructions. They leave much of the implementation to managers and supervisors and regularly develop and deliver in-house training courses to raise awareness and introduce basic health and safety skills across the workforce. “NEBOSH has been great for Gary, Aleksandra and Agnieszka, and therefore great for us,” said Nicky Walker. “Although hugely important, it’s not all just about compliance. The key driver for us has been to properly look after the whole family at Walkers. That’s what we are about and training and qualifications are now a huge part of that here at Walkers.”