Environment, Health and Safety
At Bairds Malt we pride ourselves on having a strong safety culture where no job is considered so important that it cannot be done safely. The health, safety and welfare of our employees is paramount, and no aspect of the business is allowed to undermine this ethos.
We are committed to providing and maintaining a safe and healthy working environment for all employees, contractors and visitors, and to minimising the effects our business has on the environment.
Our Environment, Health and Safety Programme is founded on 3 principles:
- Capital investment in the engineering infrastructure of our sites to ensure safety
- The implementation of clear and effective Management Systems
- Practical and behavioural safety training using the Sentis ZIP (Zero Incident Process) Course
All our Production sites hold both ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 accreditations. Our ongoing accreditation and the continuous improvement of our management systems is testament to the constant dedication and hard work of all our employees towards maintaining high standards in our EH&S practices in all aspects of our business.
Environment and Sustainability
Water
Some elements of the malting process use significant volumes of water. Bairds Malt continually strives to minimise its environmental impacts, including water usage.
One of the latest projects to significantly reduce our dependence on the local mains water supply is the water recycling plant at our Witham facility. This new plant gives us the facility to take our used process water that would ordinarily be discharged into drains and, after treatment, use it again in the malting process. The treatment consists of ultrafiltration, reverse-osmosis and UV light stages, which return water of a potable quality. Not only does this process significantly reduce the demand on the area’s water resources, it also reduces the amount of effluent requiring treatment by the local treatments works.
We are able to further reduce our demand on the supply of mains water by utilising water from the boreholes which have been sunk at three of our production sites.
Energy
Bairds Malt is committed to the production of malt in an energy efficient manner, and we endeavour to continually improve the efficiency of our activities. Each site closely monitors key stages of the process in order to identify areas where improvements can be made. Over the years we have modified our plants and processes as well as having made significant investments in new equipment, technology and systems to allow us to become more efficient in our resource use.
Bairds Malt has also entered into a Climate Change Agreement with the Environment Agency. The agreement is administered by the Maltsters’ Association of Great Britain (MAGB).
Waste
The day-to-day operation of our plants and the supply of malt to our customers inevitably generates waste. Each site regularly reviews its processes to ensure that as little waste as possible is generated.
Wherever possible, waste is segregated into specific streams for re-use on site or collection by waste management organisations for recycling, thus minimising the amount of material being sent to landfills.
Our People
We recognise that the greatest asset to our business is our people, and we are very fortunate to have built up a pool of highly skilled staff with a collective wealth of knowledge and experience of the industry.
We take the professional development of our employees very seriously and, to enhance our team’s ability to work safely and competently, training courses are regularly held, covering a wide range of safety, environmental and job-specific topics.