Building and maintaining a safety culture is critical to business success; ensuring employees feel secure in their work and return home safely to their loved ones each day. Making safety a top priority means that every activity, whether on-site or in the office, is conducted with safety at its core. Our commitment to a safe working environment remains unwavering and is reflected in a comprehensive approach to risk management at the individual level.
The primary objective of any safety culture must be to make sure there is no life at risk. Through rigorous analysis, we have identified a few practical rules that if strictly followed, can prevent most accidents in our operational work. These rules, known as our Life Saving Rules, are designed to protect our employees, customers, contractors, and the communities we serve. They are not just guidelines but essential practices that save lives.
Our Nine Life Saving Rules
1. Be Hooked Up
- Rule: Clip on your harness when working at height.
- Falls from height are a leading cause of serious injuries and fatalities. Using a harness ensures that workers are protected from such risks.
2. Step Aside
- Rule: Stay out of the path of moving vehicles and plant equipment.
- Being struck by moving vehicles or equipment can result in severe injuries. This rule helps prevent such incidents by keeping individuals clear of these hazards.
3. Check
- Rule: Verify that there is no live energy (mechanical, chemical, electrical, fluids under pressure, etc.) before starting work.
- Uncontrolled energy sources can cause serious harm. Ensuring that all energy sources are de-energized before work begins is crucial for safety.
4. Make Sure
- Rule: Only enter a trench if the appropriate wall supports are in place.
- Trench collapses can be fatal. Proper wall supports prevent such collapses, ensuring the safety of workers inside the trench.
5. Control
- Rule: Test that the atmosphere is safe before entering a confined space and monitor it as you work.
- Confined spaces can contain hazardous atmospheres. Testing and monitoring the air quality to prevent exposure to dangerous gases and lack of oxygen.
6. Halt
- Rule: Do not perform hot work until the fire or explosion risks have been eliminated.
- Hot work can ignite flammable materials, leading to fires or explosions. Eliminating these risks before starting hot work is essential for preventing such incidents.
7. Avoid
- Rule: Do not walk or stand under a load.
- Suspended loads can fall unexpectedly, causing serious injuries or fatalities. Staying clear of suspended loads eliminates this risk.
8. Ban
- Rule: Do not work under the influence of alcohol or drugs, including driving.
- Impairment from alcohol or drugs significantly increases the risk of accidents. This rule ensures that all workers are in a fit state to perform their duties safely.
9. Stop
- Rule: Do not manipulate your phone or any other communication device while driving.
- Distracted driving is a major cause of accidents. Keeping attention on the road prevents such incidents, ensuring the safety of drivers and others.
Enforcing our Life Saving Rules
It is not enough to have these rules exist simply as policy. Our daily safety culture ingrains these steps at the individual level. By building trust and dialogue about our commitments to safety, we can always “Think, Talk, and Act” through unsafe situations: our method for following our life saving rules. We think (proactive measures, incident monitoring, and root cause analysis), we talk (communicate around safety), and we act (take the correct measures of sharing safety).
We have implemented several measures to ensure compliance and foster a culture of safety:
- Training: All employees and contractors undergo training on our Life Saving Rules, with real-life examples and decision-making exercises on when you would need to use the rules.
- Assessment: We conduct regular safety audits, management visits and engagements to ensure that the Life Saving Rules are being followed. Any deviations are promptly addressed, and corrective actions are implemented.
- Reporting: We encourage open communication and reporting of safety concerns. Employees can report unsafe conditions or behaviors without fear of reprisal. This feedback is crucial for continuous improvement.
- Leadership commitment: Our leadership team is fully committed to safety, and they promote a safety-first mindset through the organization by spreading awareness on safety practices and leading by example.
- Empowerment: We ensure that all employees understand that they have not only the right, but also the responsibility to speak out against unsafe practices. Everyone on a site has authority to stop work at any time to ensure safe practices are being followed. Safety is everyone’s responsibility.
Our Nine Life Saving Rules are vital practices that protect lives. By embedding these rules into our daily operations and fostering a culture of safety, we ensure that every individual at ENGIE feels secure in delivering their best work safely, and most importantly, reunites with their loved ones each day.
