Hello Everyone,
I hope all of you had a great summer and enjoyed the time you spent away from work with family and friends.
Thank you for the efforts you are making to ensure everyone makes it home safely each day. This summer (June – August), eleven (11) fewer colleagues were injured compared to the same period last year – a great achievement. Your leadership and commitment is key to sustaining this level of HSE performance in Solvay.
Recently I was reading through the book “Safety 24/7 – Building an Incident Free Culture” by Greg Anderson and Robert Lorber. They offer the following advice on what the leadership within a company needs to commit to in order to create/maintain a strong Safety culture that I thought you might find interesting:
Support safety as a core value by committing to put human life ahead of all other demands. (Ilham has said on more than one occasion that nothing is more important than the safety of our people, not profits, not production).
Accountability gives all employees the right/responsibility to call a time out and rewards them for doing it, even if it’s a false alarm. (I know many sites/GBUs have implemented a STOP or PARE program which encourages people to stop a job/activity if they have safety concerns).
Follow-up by demonstrating and communicating a personal commitment to safety in all of your actions. (What you say and what you do will have a significant impact on whether or not you are able to create the culture you want – your employees are watching you).
Elevate people who support the new culture and eliminate those who tolerate at-risk behavior, even top performers. (It is important to recognize those individuals who support the culture you want at your site – this will send a positive message to others; Eliminating those who tolerate at-risk behaviors (or dont support the culture you are creating) can also send a strong message – however, it is important to be fair – what Andrew Sharman refers to as a “Just Culture” in his book "From Accidents to Zero")
Train people to observe at-risk behaviors and speak up. (I know several sites/GBUs have provided training in this area. Also, Ilham, in her NOH Safety Day Video, said that we need to Care for each other and Speak Up if we see someone putting themselves or others at risk, even if we aren’t 100% sure they are at risk – if we have questions – speak up). (There is a poem by Don Merrel, “I Chose to Look the Other Way” that I know many of you have probably heard in various training classes. I find it to be a very powerful message and one I encourage you to share and discuss with all your employees).
You are the key to an incident free environment.
I am certain you will be successful in sustaining the safety culture we need at Solvay. If we follow Ilham’s advice and make Safety “The natural way of working in Solvay” I am confident the last four months of this year will be even better/safer than last year with more of our colleagues making it home safely to enjoy time with their family and friends.
Once again, thanks for your Commitment and Leadership in Safety. You are making a difference.
Be Safe,
James