Leadership and Commitment at the Individual Level

The development of a safety culture in modern enterprises inevitably leads to the understanding that regulations and technical barriers alone are not enough. The personal commitment of every employee becomes a key factor. In her presentation, Stella Sologubova, Chief Occupational Safety Expert at NIPIGAS JSC, details the mechanisms of corporate culture transformation, where safety ceases to be solely the responsibility of specialized departments and becomes a core value at all levels.

The Incident Pyramid and Shifting the Focus of Control

Using the incident pyramid as an example, the speaker demonstrates why safety management should focus on its base: unsafe acts and conditions. The traditional reactive approach is giving way to prevention. Implementing risk assessment procedures before starting work and behavioral safety audits during execution allows for the proactive elimination of threats. This works in practice thanks to internal investigation procedures, where the goal is not to find someone to blame, but to identify critical factors and systemic causes.

Criteria for Commitment at the Individual Level

Commitment to safety does not happen on its own; it is a skill that requires systematic development. The presentation details four key criteria that shape a conscious attitude toward risks:

• Risk-oriented approach: applying the "Five Steps to Safety" methodology before starting any task. This allows the employee to independently identify hazards and assess consequences before the situation gets out of control.
• Critical stance: the ability to analyze assignments and working conditions. Developing this skill gives the worker the justified right to refuse a task if it contradicts safety requirements.
• Regulated approach: not just knowing, but internally agreeing with the "Key Safety Rules." The speaker emphasizes that compliance with the rules must be unconditional, and their violation (for example, working at heights without PPE or concealing incident information) entails strict disciplinary measures.
• Communication skills: the ability to openly discuss problems. Without creating an environment of trust, where there is no fear of punishment for reporting a mistake, it is impossible to build an effective injury prevention system.

Engagement Tools: From "Safety Contact" to BSA

To translate theoretical concepts into daily practice, specific corporate tools are used. Starting any meeting with a "Safety Contact" means setting the right context by analyzing real-life or production cases to extract lessons learned. Separating the concepts of a Behavioral Safety Audit (BSA) and intervention practices helps structure the work: BSA is used by managers as a planned tool for dialogue and making management decisions, whereas intervention is the duty of every employee to immediately stop a colleague's unsafe act.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to properly structure and conduct a "Safety Contact" so it doesn't become a mere formality?
• What five questions should every employee ask themselves before starting work?
• What is the fundamental difference between a behavioral safety audit and intervention practice?
• How to transform the team's attitude toward reporting violations so it is perceived not as "snitching," but as saving lives?
• How to integrate contractors into a unified enterprise safety culture?