HSE Months: A Tool for Building Safe Work Habits

From Formalism to Conscious Safety: Why Thematic Months are Needed

The problem of low employee engagement in HSE issues is familiar to many manufacturing enterprises. Employees often perceive safety requirements as a top-down formality, and corrective actions for identified violations can be ignored for months. In search of a solution to this problem, OZNA Engineering completely revised its approach to internal communications. Elena Arkova, Deputy General Director for HSE, shares practical experience in implementing a project of thematic HSE months, which made it possible to turn compliance with rules into a sustainable habit.

Instead of the traditional one-off "safety weeks" or annual briefings, the company distributed key risks across all 12 months of the year. This approach is based on a psychological principle: it takes at least 21 days to form a sustainable habit. Immersing workers in one specific topic for a whole month provides enough time for information sharing, practical training, and the subsequent reinforcement of safe behavior in the workplace.

Project Architecture: How Thematic Campaigns Work

Each month is dedicated to a specific area, the choice of which is dictated by the analysis of incident statistics in the internal tracking system and seasonal factors. The presentation details the algorithm for implementing such campaigns, where each event brings specific practical benefits.

• Transport Safety: In response to frequent incidents, the company introduced cross-observation "passenger-driver" cards. This gave employees a legitimate tool to record violations (unfastened seat belts, talking on the phone), which led to a sharp decrease in dangerous behavior while driving corporate transport.
• Proper Use of PPE: Instead of dry briefings, specialized workwear suppliers were involved in the training. Trainings were held directly at the production sites. Employees demonstrating leadership in the use of PPE received rewards and began to independently correct the behavior of their colleagues.
• Safety of Work at Height and Loading/Unloading Operations: Highly specialized experts (e.g., industrial climbers) were invited to practice practical skills. The training took place with minimal interruption from production, on the company's actual equipment, which made it possible to clearly analyze specific risks and methods for safely performing tasks.

Measurable Results and Cultural Transformation

Using the corporate portal as an example, the speaker shows how the team's attitude towards safety issues has changed. While at the start of the project the initiative was perceived with distrust, by the end of the year the number of registered potentially dangerous events and suggestions for improvement had more than doubled. The most important achievement was breaking down the barrier between the HSE department and the workers: alienation was replaced by a trusting dialogue and a willingness to openly discuss problems.

A system of positive motivation played a special role in this process. Practice has shown that a manager's sincere gratitude for safe work and small memorable gifts work much more effectively for engagement than exclusively punitive measures.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to build an annual program of thematic HSE months with a minimal budget?
• What tools help engage employees in independently recording potentially dangerous events?
• How to organize effective training in safe work methods directly at the production site?
• Why does the "passenger-driver" mutual control system yield better results than standard inspections?
• How to use positive motivation to build trusting relationships between workers and HSE specialists?