Balance of Three Cultures: Production, Corporate, and Safety Culture

From Confrontation to Synergy: How to Unite Production and Safety

The development of a safety culture often faces a barrier: the HSE function is ready for changes, but the production unit is not. Or vice versa. Stepan Dikiy, Head of the HSE Systems Development Department at Sipkor, uses specific examples to explain how to build effective interaction between these areas when the initiative comes from a strong HSE department and production is involved gradually.

Transformation of Control Tools: From Formality to Efficiency

The speaker demonstrates, using the example of a behavioral safety audit (BSA), how adapting a tool to production needs changes the attitude towards it. In 2022, the company faced the fact that lengthy training (4 days) and complex form filling (15 minutes) alienated production workers.

• Reducing training time and automation: BSA training was reduced to 1 day, and thanks to a digital product, data entry was accelerated by 60%. This made it possible to train the required number of employees in a year without taking them away from work for a long time.
• Integration into mandatory courses: Training in the basics of safe behavior was integrated into mandatory programs, reducing the overall workload on personnel by 2 days a year.
• Employee involvement: Occupational safety representatives were involved in behavioral audits (a joint project with Rosugleprof), transferring to them part of the preliminary risk assessment functions, which did not catch on in its original form.

Five-Level Control and Contractor Management

The presentation details the approach to production control and working with contractors. The assessment mechanism has become more transparent, and the responsibility for contractors has shifted to production workers.

• Incoming control: A contractor assessment system was implemented upon admission to the enterprise with a clear hierarchy of measures if indicators are not met.
• Supervision: Production workers (engineering and technical personnel) were appointed as supervisors of contracting organizations. Now, not only the HSE department is responsible for safety at the facility, but also a specific production manager.

Digitalization and Standardization: Focus on the Main Things

The speaker emphasizes the importance of simplifying work for engineering and technical personnel. Not all local managers thoroughly know the regulatory framework, so they need clear algorithms.

• Critical risk checklists: Specific items for verification are embedded in the system, focusing attention on dangerous violations and the use of barriers. This speeds up analysis and report generation.
• Mobile application: Recording hazardous situations has been digitized, including the possibility of voice input, which significantly saves time.
• "Manager's Work" standard: The harmonization of processes (permit-to-work system, production control, BSA) led to the CEO requesting the creation of a similar block for production to combine action algorithms into a single system.

Overcoming Barriers When Implementing Changes

The implementation of new approaches inevitably faces resistance. The speaker highlights three main barriers and ways to overcome them:

• Psychological rejection: Resolved through strategic sessions, involvement of top managers, and demonstration of successful cases (benchmarking).
• Expectation of quick results: Requires the appointment of specific project managers and regular informing of the team about interim results.
• Disbelief in success: It is important to see projects through to the end, show their effectiveness, and constantly communicate with employees.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to adapt a behavioral safety audit so that production workers want to use it?
• How can the workload on engineering and technical personnel be reduced during safety training and control?
• How to properly transfer responsibility for contractor safety to the production unit?
• Which digital tools actually speed up the recording of hazardous situations?
• How to overcome team resistance when implementing new safety standards?