OBJECTS IN FOCUS: TEACHERS’ RESOURCES REACHING BEYOND THE MUSEUM WALLS.
Reaching Goal Zero and Beyond through Safety Culturegoalzeroandbeyond.yolasite.com/resources/GZero...
Transcript of Reaching Goal Zero and Beyond through Safety Culturegoalzeroandbeyond.yolasite.com/resources/GZero...
Raj Singh
SAFETY@WORK Reaching Goal Zero and Beyond through Safety Culture
Reaching Goal Zero and Beyond through Safety Culture 2
Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Safety Culture................................................................................................................................................ 4
Why Safety Culture ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Establishing Safety Culture ........................................................................................................................... 7
Reaching Goal Zero ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Getting Goal Zero ...................................................................................................................................... 10
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 11
Reaching Goal Zero and Beyond through Safety Culture 3
About The Author
Raj Singh is the CEO of Safey@ Work and a leading Safety Health and Environmental Consultant with
extensive experience and involvements in Oil & Gas (Upstream and Downstream), Petrochemical,
Marine and Construction Industries for the past 18 years in Asia and Middle East. Raj has a Masters in
Business Administration from the University of Adelaide,
Raj has been providing consulting, advisory and training to the Top Management of organizations as well
as projects. His driving philosophy is to create a better, more productive, profitable and professional
workforce. Raj’s business acumen has allowed him to market his services to various organizations
around the world.
As a preferred supplier for the Energy Institute’s Hearts and Minds program, Raj comprehends the complexities and challenges senior executives face in their organization. This inner understanding of complex organization management has allowed him to conceptualize and offer custom solutions to busy executives. Raj’s is actively involved in developing training standards for safety. He also remains one of the most sought after expert witnesses in Singapore, having handled numerous expert witness cases involving fatalities whilst providing calculations and reports to the various courts. Raj has received extensive training in technical safety, investigations as well as Behavioural Safety.
Raj is a prolific writer and author of two books. “Risk Assessment: Simplified” First published in 2004 and “The accident files: real industrial accidents.” In his free time, Raj enjoys spending his downtime at the driving range, running, and reading.
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Introduction
“Goal Zero and Beyond” is the term that indicates the objective of organizations to achieve
zero accidents in the workplace. Although there are debates on the feasibility of attaining
Goal Zero, the fundamental implementation of a safety culture is one of the reasons for
increased productivity in businesses, especially in high-risk and hazardous industries. This
article attempts to answer (1) How organizations can be more productive and successful by
adopting safety culture and safety mindset and (2.) How can organizations reach Goal Zero
and beyond?
Safety Culture
Safety Culture is defined as the enduring value and priority placed on workers and
public safety by everyone at every level of an organization or it can defined as an organizational
atmosphere; where safety and health is understood and accepted as high priority. . It refers to
the extent to which individuals and groups will commit to the following: (1) Personal
responsibility for safety (2) Act to preserve safety (3)Enhance and communicate safety concerns
(4) Strive to learn adapt and learning from mistakes Developing a safety culture within high-risk
and hazardous enterprises; such as nuclear plants, chemical production, manufacturing
including , oil and gas industries , electric plants etc is oil is imperative due to inherent risk in
these industries. The disregard for safety culture often results in fatal accidents, and disasters,
causing loss of lives, damage to the environment and destruction of property. Compromise of
safety standards often takes place due to one or many reasons such as insufficient training,
poorly maintained equipment, and human errors.
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Why Safety Culture
Studies show that there is a correlation between the quality of safety culture and
productivity. Corporate and factory accidents, mishaps and unhealthy workplaces adversely
affect productivity.
According to recent estimate the total cost of injuries have been $450 billion US
construction industry range from $7 billion to $17 billion annually. Most contractors understand
that a worker's injury has a direct effect on insurance premium cost, but there are also
"indirect" costs that result. These indirect costs that are often overlooked have been found to
be more detrimental to the overall expense picture than the direct expenses. The problem of
not knowing how to eliminate worker injury has been pervasive until recent times. A new
concept is emerging called zero injury. Zero injury means that essentially all serious injury to
workers can be successfully prevented. The obvious benefits to owners and contractors are the
elimination of unnecessary indirect costs and reduction of worker's compensation insurance
premiums by as much as 80 percent. That translates to lower construction costs for owners and
higher profit margins for contractors. In 2004, Dave Pepper, the third-generation owner of
Pepper Construction, met with his insurance group to review the group’s annual summary of
safety performance. To his surprise, Pepper Construction’s experience modification rate (EMR)
placed them in the bottom third of the group. The EMR compares the frequency and severity of
workers’ compensation claims between companies of similar size operating in the same type of
business and reflects the degree to which a particular company’s experience is better or worse
than the industry as a whole. At the time, Pepper Construction Group’s EMR was 0.71, nearly
30% better than the national average for general contractors, but two-thirds of the insurance
group members were even better. Safety performance was good, but not good enough.
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Pepper Construction had begun to develop a long-range strategic planning initiative. The
initial goals set by company leadership were related to business growth - profit, efficiency,
information technology and production - but not one mentioned safety. Dave reminded his
team that the company’s most valuable asset has always been its people and he encouraged
them to shift their focus. It was as if a light went on within his management group. They fully
embraced the commitment to safety and saw that it would protect the company’s greatest
asset - their people. The strategic plan shifted and safety became the first priority. Their initial
goals remained, but safety was now the foundation on which profit, growth and productivity
would be built.
At the regulatory level, compliance with proscriptive Environment Health & Safety
(EH&S) legislations is now often critical to market access in many countries. But the importance
of EH&S is even more far-reaching. Reports show a clear link between the effective
management of operational risks and increased productivity and efficiency. In other words,
organizations with comprehensive EH&S programs achieve superior business results. They
achieve higher employee retention, increased shareholder satisfaction and greater brand value.
However, to obtain the most sustained value from these programs, companies should not limit
themselves to the implementation of tools and continuous improvement initiatives intended to
mitigate risks behind potential accidents.
High performing companies in the EH&S space successfully implement within their
organizations a robust safety culture. And safety pays back, not only through reduced
accidents, injuries and fatalities, but also by improving overall productivity and motivation
across the board. As companies strive for zero fatalities and incident-free operations, the
promotion of safe and healthy workplace environments have strengthened significantly in
many sectors, including oil and gas, metals and mining, steel and extractive industries.
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In fact, best-in-class companies are the safest and most productive. A recent Aberdeen
Group study, co-sponsored by Rockwell Automation, measured the relationship between
automation safety and productivity and showed the best-in-class companies had 5 percent
higher Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), 4 percent less unscheduled downtime, and
significantly fewer injuries and repeat accidents compared to peers. OEE is a widely used
measurement of how well a manufacturing plant performs relative to its designed production
capacity.
Establishing Safety Culture
Government plays an imperative role in establishing safety culture in business sectors,
industries, enterprises, and organizations. Without government policy and implementation of
laws related to public safety, it is almost impossible to implement and enforce safety culture. .
Public accountability is a compelling factor why companies adhere to safety regulations.
For example Singapore Government enacted workplace Safety Act in 2006 to cultivate a
workplace safety culture. The main intention was that stakeholders take practical measures to
ensure safety and health of workers. There are three main guiding principal of the Safety Act (1)
Reduce risk by minimizing risks, (2) instill ownership of the safety and (3)Health outcomes and
preventing accidents by higher penalties. The result is that Singaporean workplace environment
has become safer and the rates of incidents and fatalities have decreased over the past five
years.
The Occupational and Safety Administration (OSA) of the US Department of Labor is a
good example of how a government unit help implement safety culture. Under the OSH Act,
employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace. OSHA's mission is to
assure safe and healthful workplaces by setting and enforcing standards and by providing
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training, outreach, education and assistance. The proactive and aggressive effort of OSA in
implementing sustainable safety programs and enforcement of regulations was meant to
ensure safety in workplaces compel companies to establish their safety culture.
It is for this reason that most governments have laws, regulations, programs, and
monitoring systems with regards safety and occupational health. In a global setting, there are
international agencies, inter-country institutions, and NGOs that upholds and advocates safety
culture, occupational safety, and environmental preservation.
One relevant example of an inter-country agency monitoring and program
development for safety culture is Partnership for European Research in Occupational Safety and
Health (PEROSH). In its research entitled Expanding the Zero Accident Vision to the European
Context - Interlinking Research and Networking (EZAV), the objective states that t he zero
accident vision (ZAV) is an important and challenging phenomenon, with a great potential for
safety improvement. The basic idea of the ZAV is that all accidents are preventable. It promotes
the adoption of a high standard safety culture and a “vision zero” concept in all sectors of
working life. As there are still too many occupational accidents in the EU, the zero accident
vision can be an important driver for occupational safety improvements. However, until now,
only very few research has been carried out, to identify and mobilize its potential. (PERSOSH)
GBRIA is a trade association established in 1970, whose members include over 50
energy, paper, petrochemical, and oil refining plants representing 43 companies. The Mission
of GBRIA is to drive and coordinate sustainable cost effective solutions to industry, its affiliates
and communities. GBRIA has a long history of involvement in safety improvement with
programs such as contractor safety and health orientation training and the Security Passport
through the Safety Council, contractor safety and health audits and awards for excellence,
quarterly incident and illness benchmarking among members and quarterly safety, health and
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security technology exchanges. In fact, a majority of GBRIA’s activities are directed towards the
safety of its member colleagues.
But while the participation of government, local safety association, and inter-country
agencies are necessary, the cooperation of companies with government initiatives is equally
important. Private enterprises are making giant leaps to pace with their government safety
enforcements. Aside from government pressure, the expectation from investors and clients are
added motivations for safety enforcements. Companies with troubling safety track records are
put on a spotlight through bad publicity, risk protests from safety advocates and face censure of
labour safety NGOs. All of these factors contribute to the establishment of organizational safety
culture.
Reaching Goal Zero
Goal Zero is the ‘holy grail’ for high-risk companies because achieving such a goal
reflects quality management, adherence to world-class standards, and a showcase of
excellence to investors and clients, an assurance that their enterprise is being run well. There
are various well know business, for whom safety comes first because they understand value of
safety. For some critics; Goal Zero is a farfetched idea that seems unattainable to achieve but
corporations throughout the decades have been able to achieve it. For example Shell states
that Goal Zero captures the belief that they can operate without fatalities or significant
incidents despite the often difficult conditions in which we operate. To support this aim, they
continue to roll out initiatives to strengthen safety culture and have been successful in reaching
up to a certain mark. Alta Steel goal is a healthy, injury-free workplace. By working together in
all parts of the Health & Safety program, they work harder to achieve e zero incidents, , and
injuries.
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Turner Bros has been recognized by LyondellBasell for achieving Goal Zero Performance
in 2010. They believe that all employees and contractors should strive to achieve zero injuries,
zero incidents, zero non-compliance with government regulations, zero product defects and
zero mistakes.
Xerox ramped up its safety programs in order to reduce workplace injuries to the
optimum level through Goal zero. In 2007, the Total Recordable Incident (TRI) rate declined by
13% and the Days Away From Work (DAFW) cases declined by 11%. Their overall TRI dropped
by 59% that exceeded management expectations. The e reason main reason for Xerox success
was their leadership unyielding commitment to instill safety culture persistently and improve
the safety standards within their organization.
Getting Goal Zero
Bredimus states the safety is necessary because: (1) It is a moral responsibility (2)
Demanded by society (3) It is a business imperative. He adds that total management
commitment including safety, rules and Standards are in Place, trained workforce, engaged
employees, drive to continuously improve, and safety as a major element in performance
evaluations as the indispensable key result areas to ensure maintain a safety culture. When
these key results area are sufficiently and effectively addressed, Goal Zero is achieved.
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Generally accidents are caused by various factors ranging from lack of Top
Management commitment, poor supervision, pitiable compliance, unsafe culture, workers
unwillingness to learn and so on. Most of which are individual human elements that could be
improved consistently and people can be taught to act safety. In short attaining goal zero and
beyond is not based on just one factor but its combination of factors such as , respect for
regulations, responsible career program, continuous training, behavior safety, and risk
compromise all coherently work to achieve the dream of Goal Zero and Beyond
Conclusion
The above discussion has shown that Goal Zero and beyond is real and achievable
Regardless of the conflicting opinions on the feasibility of Goal Zero, having a high-standard for
safety is important. It has been proven that productivity and safety are inseparable twins.
However, corporate owners and businessmen should not focus on developing safety culture as
a mere incentive to save from expenses arising from occupational accidents, or from their mere
desire to increase profit by increased productivity.
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REFERENCES
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