About Kate
Empowering Health, Safety, and Environment Excellence
Who is Kate Bannister?
A balanced, sociable, inquisitive leader and valued team player who enjoys variety, responsibility and giving back to people with a practical approach to Health and Safety that qualifies decisions and learning opportunities. Process driven and eager to create simplicity, standardisation and defined accountabilities to enable business objectives. Looks for links to strategy, clarifies purpose and objectives in activities.
Professional Experience
Burberry
Global Health & Safety Senior Manager (July 2022 – Present)
There was an opportunity to adjust the Health and Safety (H&S) focus to the global Supply Chain. Understanding risk, compliance, cultures, and aligning consistency globally remains a key focus. Working within a more strategic role, my responsibilities include overseeing manufacturing facilities, distribution warehouses, third-party logistics and Product Development. As an active disruptor within the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) environment, I am self-aware of when to coach and develop ideas with individuals or challenge the team to think and approach more holistically. With clarity of purpose, I align with strategies and assess the benefits of change through cyclical process thinking factoring compliance and improvement within H&S. I continue to build relationships with key stakeholders and ensure that H&S strategy is integrated into new projects and plans across functional groups. Within UK Internal Manufacturing, I have seen a culture shift as leaders adopt and prioritise H&S in their business agendas, which is truly inspiring and energising to me.
Having developed my team’s competence, I have challenged them to work cross-functionally. They are streamlining workflows, delivering training, and working as an autonomous team with the assistance of Continuous Improvement (CI) and Lean tools. As a technical lead and experienced H&S professional, I bring authority, trust, and integrity to project engagements. From frontline to boardroom, I am confident and comfortable engaging with people to support with change and new ways of working. My insights into consumers, retail, corporate offices, and production events provide an end-to-end understanding of the business risk profile in dynamic working environments.
Key Achievements and Benefits
- GAAP Audit: Annual external, unannounced H&S compliance audits have improved by 10% YoY (23/24)
- KPI Dashboard: YoY reduction in serious (-29%) and minor (-3%) accidents and 10.5% improvement in overall KPI’s. Active engagement and response from Burberry SLT, SC (23/24)
- Behavioural Change: Gained collective leadership agreement to develop, deploy and identify key strategic objectives for S/M/L goal setting and measure long term results of effective strategic actions
- Team: Personal development plans to future proof and support business strategy – Construction, ISO45001, Process and management systems
- Occupational Health: Reviewed and on-boarded new Occupational Health Provider, to deliver Health Surveillance. Nuro-Diverse / Disabled Assistive Technology Specialist
- External Validation: ICON Winner – Outstanding Team – On-boarding Burberry Turin, Italy. Completion of Due-Diligence for negotiations and business acquisition support, 2023
- Development Opportunities: Behaviour Change programme (Incorporating PG Cert / PG Dip. / Msc)
Burberry
Health & Safety Manager (Oct 2016 – July 2022)
H&S Manager responsible for 4 manufacturing / distribution locations in the UK and Italy. I have defined standards, embedded good practice and now the leading sector. Developing trusting partnerships is key to my success. Increased awareness and understanding, active engagement with stakeholders, led to joining the Senior Leadership Team. H&S is now 1 of 6 strategic pillars within our Roadmap to Operational Excellence.
Key Achievements and Benefits
- GAAP Audit: Annual external H&S compliance audits have improved by 10% YoY.
- KPI Dashboard: Developed to benchmark / inform leaders on H&S performance and improvements.
- Ergonomics Programme: Defined, sourced and secured budget to reduce ill-health absence and claims risk.
- Covid-19 Management: Managing and evolving standards for safe NHS PPE production by 100 volunteers + GMB.
- Team: Recruitment of HSE site based teams who have collectively defined our Vision, Purpose and Objectives. Adding value by internal training delivery, including Mental Health First Aiders and Wellbeing Roadshow across UK SC locations.
- External Validation: SHE Award, Best H&S Manufacturing. Icon Finalist, Creatively Driven. Icon Winner, OT
Arla Foods UK
QEHS Systems Manager, UK – Compliance Project (July 2014– June 2016)
Arla Foods is the UK’s main dairy producer cooperatives. With 15 supply chain locations manufacturing leading brand and retailer products, standardisation, simplification and stream-lining the UK Food Safety, Quality, Environment and Health & Safety (QEHS) standards to reduce risk and complexity, enabling increased productivity across several product categories was the key objective in the QEHS Systems Manager role. During the project, planning, scoping, identifying and coordinating technical specialists to overhaul specific standards, while building the QEHS system, and the continued coaching, driving monitoring and tracking the project members, resulted in the production of QEHS framework.
Key Objective Achievements
- Compliance: Accountable for the development of QEHS standards, complaint with legal, retailer, BRC, ISO14001 and OHSAS 18001 requirements, including Fire and Asset Protection.
- Project Management: Responsible for the coordination and maintenance of the project plan, status reporting with stakeholders, standard developers and QEHS specialists across the UK.
- QEHS Competence: Development of minimum QEHS competencies in conjunction with the standards resulted in Global pilot sites testing the competency suitability. The competencies were to enable both specialists and more importantly, non-specialists to recognise their responsibilities for QEHS.
- KPI Performance Reporting: Collating and reporting the UK QEHS performance by ensuring accurate data methods that pin point performance and improvement areas. Including leading and lagging indicators for QEHS e.g. Near Miss to Incident ratio. Corrective Action close out.
- Third party management: Management of third party QEHS contracts (e.g. auditing bodies, suppliers, SEDEX) to ensure compliance with QEHS standards and site performance monitoring and targeting systemic improvements.
- Document Management: Centuri document management system administrator, delivering webinar training and face to face session from new users to advance users.
- Lean Facilitator: Developed the Performance Management, including Tactical Implementation Plan, KPI performance, Short Term Actions following PDCA, T-Card team tracking.
Arla Foods UK
EHS Advisor (August 2011 – July 2014)
Group EHS Advisor partnering to ensure compliance with strategic initiatives, business plans, risk assessment, procedures, training, auditing and performance review. Offering practical solutions and advice.
Key Objective Achievements
- Integration: Integrated 15 sites into one certification process, reducing costs by £30k/annum.
- Audit & Review: Developed and implemented a Group Compliance Audit programme that identified systemic and site based risks for improvement through annual H&S objectives.
- Incident Reduction: AFR reduction of 11% through training programmes.
- Legal compliance: Management of legal registers and integration into UK standards.
Arla Foods UK
EHS Coordinator (Feb 2003 – August 2011)
The greenfield site, south of Leeds, started construction in Feb 2003. Having been transferred onto the project team and working with the building and projects teams, the £150m site went operational in August 2004. Employing over 400 personnel, the EHS Coordinator introduced EHS systems, procedures and engagement processes from the construction phase through to a fully operational manufacturing facility, that continued to expand a further four phases from 2004 to 2010.
Key Objective Achievements
- Compliance: Completion of pre-delivery inspections on bespoke production machinery in Germany and Finland to ensure safe operation and guard controls.
- Certification: Implemented the OHSAS18001 and ISO14001 integrated management system including risk assessment coordination, training, operational controls e.g. Fire, Asset Protection, Emergency Arrangements, Incident Management, Union engagement, objective setting including the certifications to FEMAS (Animal Feed) and MCERT (Effluent).
- Compliance: Stourton site was the second dairy permitted site issued with an Integrated Pollution Prevention Control Permit from the Environmental Agency. The permit continued to be varied and evolved during extension to the manufacturing site.
- Compliance: Key contact for regulators including Health & Safety Executive, Environment Agency, Fire Services, Local Authority and Environmental Health Officer resulted in no breaches and a transparent relationship.
- Projects:
- Assisted in the Effluent Plant Project (£2m) to ensure compliance and COD reduction.
- Developed and implemented a Near Miss Reporting system which was adopted across UK and reduce the accident frequency rate in 2009 by 30% and by 10% in 2008.
Previous Roles
Site Training Officer / Customer Liaison Officer / Production Team Leader / Laboratory Supervisor
Ready to Enhance Your Safety Standards?
Contact Kate today to take a step further towards a safer and greener workplace.
Let Kate Bannister be your trusted person in achieving health, safety, and environmental excellence. Together, we can build a secure and sustainable future.
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