Great ideas deserve to be shared! Capture it. Share it. Inspire others.

Earlier this year the UK Materials 5S Improvement Initiative was launched as part of the Europe Materials 2026 Health & Safety Improvement Plan. The initiative focuses on practical improvements that make our sites safer, tidier, and more efficient, with particular emphasis on pedestrian and traffic management and housekeeping.

Since launching, we’ve already seen some fantastic examples of simple but effective improvements from sites across the business (see image examples). Now it’s time to build on that momentum.

Introducing the 5S Good Practice Library

To help everyone learn from each other, a dedicated 5S Good Practice Library has been created on the UK Health & Safety SharePoint. This is where successful improvements from across our sites will be shared, giving teams the opportunity to see what’s working, spark new ideas and replicate best practice. Whether it’s a safer pedestrian route, improved traffic segregation, smarter storage solutions or a housekeeping improvement that reduces risk, your ideas could inspire colleagues across the UK.

You can access the 5S Good Practice Library HERE

You can find the Submission Template to download HERE

How to Get Involved

We’re asking every site and team to actively identify opportunities for improvement and submit their 5S projects using the 5S improvement template.

Each submission should include:

• A brief description of the improvement.
• Clear photographs – ideally before and after images.
• Evidence of how the improvement has been implemented and sustained using the Plan, Do, Check, Act approach where possible.

Completed submissions (using template above) should be sent to Jason Barker first, who is coordinating the initiative across the Materials business. Jason will then upload your submission to the Library.

Every Improvement Makes a Difference

The best improvements don’t have to be expensive or complicated. Often, it’s the small changes that have the biggest impact on reducing risk, improving housekeeping and creating safer working environments for everyone. As more examples are submitted, we’ll regularly showcase them through UK News, helping everyone benefit from the great work happening across our sites.

So please look around your site. Is there a simple improvement that could make your workplace safer or more organised? Every improvement shared helps strengthen our safety culture and supports our goal of making every site safer for everyone.

Let’s keep the ideas flowing and show what great 5S looks like across UK Materials.