Strengthening occupational health and safety aspects is one of the priorities when observing the company’s values.
To this end, the leadership team has set the goal of advancing towards a Zero Harm Culture for people, in all company activities.
In this context, two cultural priorities have been defined:
1. Enhance the role of leaders and
2. Strengthen operational discipline, integrating contractor management.
To work in a focused manner, safety at ME Elecmetal is understood through 5 pillars or work axes:
1. Discipline and accountability: responsibilities are clear regarding the actions each person must fulfill and perform to operate safely. It also includes a framework for leaders to have the opportunity to demonstrate the results obtained in their areas regarding occupational health and safety management. It includes recognition activities and disciplinary measures in case of repeated incidents or conscious unsafe actions.
2. Safe procedures and controls: standardize the best known way to perform the work in terms of safety, quality, and productivity, considering the variable of individual responsibility. It includes review and improvements based on observations and shift checks.
3. Training: this is a standardized plan that provides concrete tools to understand and correctly execute the established procedures and controls for each activity. It integrates three variables: the supervisor’s role, machinery certification, and the ongoing identification of work risks at each workstation or workplace.
4. Safety culture and safe workers: its purpose is that all company employees have safety first in all decisions they must make during their work activities. To this end, leadership and behavioral safety programs are implemented at all company levels to leverage commitment within work teams.
5. Focused leadership: this is associated with the role of leaders regarding the daily decisions of their work team, working conditions, team behavior, and reported incidents. In other words, safety issues are not overlooked; on the contrary, they are stopped and resolved before continuing operations if necessary. In this context, feedback and coaching appear as the basic tools to modify behaviors, alongside recognition.
All of the above is worked on through Lean Manufacturing strategy tools.
During last year and this year, the main focus has been working with leaders through the implementation of a leadership program aimed at reducing exposure to hazardous situations and conditions and improving safety culture.
This program seeks to reinforce aspects of team engagement to establish safe behaviors and conditions. The program began implementation in 2022 with three focuses:
- Safety contacts between leaders and workers
- Work sessions with teams to reinforce behaviors and work standards
- Physical risk inspections
- Coaching
This program adds to the behavior-based safety program implemented for the past 5 years.
As always, we seek to improve the zero harm culture. During 2023, a Safety Culture measurement will be conducted.
Continue strengthening safety culture aspects within ME Elecmetal impacting accident and occupational disease indicators.
Proposed Solution
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“The work pillars are complementary; however, for about six months now we have focused more on supervisors to reinforce focused leadership. Since 2015 to date, the culture has changed a lot. People in leadership roles have taken ownership of safety aspects, treating the issues as their own and solving the problems they face.””
With the implementation of this model, we seek to advance towards a Zero Harm Culture for people, in all company activities, considering three indicators:
- Accident rate: reduce exposure of ME Elecmetal workers.
- Occupational diseases: eliminate occupational illnesses.
- Zero Harm Culture: progress in internalizing the culture.
We have involved all contractor companies that carry out their activities at our sites across the country, with whom we work systematically to improve our results.
