With over 3750 UK stores and a market share of approximately 27.4%, Tesco is one of the largest retailers in the world with stores in seven countries across Asia and Europe. Shield Safety provided Tesco with a range of products and services including Food Safety Audits, Compliance Software and a dedicated Account Manager.
The challenge
After working with their previous their Audit provider of 10-years, Tesco wanted to explore a new approach to measuring compliance, one which would support a good culture of compliance in the business. While their previous Audit provider offered an online platform to manage the completion of non-conformances, the Audits were very much viewed as checklists with no focus on continual improvement.
“The Audit experience was great, the assessments were really in-depth and covered everything that we wanted – including our existing codes of practice which was really important for us. The flexibility offered throughout the Audit round was brilliant too.”
Fiona Kibby
Head of Store Standards and Food Safety
Tesco
Support
Shield Safety offered Auditors with a degree in Environmental Health, able to hazard spot and carry out a more risk-based inspection. This enabled Tesco to take a holistic approach and a coaching style with their Audits, which in turn benefited the business by encouraging a positive audit experience that raised standards and supported best practice.
Working with Shield Safety, Tesco’s Audits have been designed to be reactive to emerging trends in the industry and are managed in line with a food safety management system that ensures calibration of Auditors and control of process, through a full programme of quality assurance and KPIs.
The impact
Our close partnership and support for the teams working in People Safety, Food Safety and Regulatory within Tesco has resulted in a better quality of Audit and the development of an Audit standard for stores based around the Tesco policies, procedures and practices.
The additional functionality of our Compliance Software in tracking of non-conformances has allowed Audits to be scheduled by risk, allowing Tesco to better utilise resource and focus attention on areas that will benefit the business the most.
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