Safety Minutes: How 5 Minutes Change HSE Culture

I have always believed that true safety is born not in offices, but in the "field". Just 5 minutes of live communication and dialogue give workers an understanding of safety.

Five-Minute Talks are a conversation on equal terms. It's not a boss lecturing, but colleagues analyzing risks together. The format is simple: short, to the point, and with examples.

Our rules for live safety minutes:

• Only specifics — what could happen when performing this operation;
• Only real-life examples — stories that make you think;
• Mandatory dialogue — we ask open-ended questions and listen to everyone.

Real cases that changed team behavior:

When an HSE specialist or a manager shares their own life examples, it's a completely different story. The worker realizes that we are all human, and no one is immune to a sudden incident where risk assessment and attentiveness would have been useful. Relationships become more trusting.

Discussing accidents from other plants or companies. It is always interesting to hear how workers reason, because everyone understands and gives the right advice; all that's left is to apply it in practice. But it is so great when employees remember all the accident examples and apply them in their work. When performing a certain operation, if we previously talked about an unsafe example, they remember it.

What problems did the safety minutes solve?

• Shattered the myth of immortality among experienced workers, managers, and HSE specialists.
• Showed that a dialogue between the worker and the manager actually exists.
• Created an atmosphere where everyone feels responsible not only for themselves but also for their colleagues.

The main result:

Safety minutes have become our daily ritual. Not because "we have to," but because it works. Workers themselves started suggesting topics and sharing observations. We turned a formality into a living tradition.