Transformation of the River Workers' Safety Culture

Transformation of Safety Culture in Logistics: From Resistance to Engagement

Transitioning from a formal approach to a real safety culture is a challenge for any enterprise, especially in conservative industries. Irina Feigina, Deputy General Director for HSE at the Yenisei River Shipping Company (Nornickel), shares her experience in transforming the HSE function in Siberia's largest shipping company. The speaker examines the journey from fragmented departments and employee distrust to creating a unified system where safety becomes everyone's business.

Systematic Approach and Leadership Support

The changes began with the application of the Deming cycle and securing the support of top management. In 2024, a steering committee for occupational safety was created, headed by the General Director. This allowed:

• Making top management the sponsor of changes: HSE and environmental action programs were included in the managers' KPIs, ensuring their actual implementation.
• Ensuring personal engagement: Regular meetings of the General Director and enterprise managers with employees, as well as personal addresses on safety issues, demonstrated the seriousness of the company's intentions.
• Centralizing the HSE function: Restructuring the matrix system made it possible to separate the methodological block and free up specialists' time for fieldwork.

The GOSA Project and Establishing Dialogue

To overcome distrust from production workers, a communication project called "Speak, Answer, Hear, Discuss" (GOSA) was launched. Regular meetings with work teams helped identify real problems and solve them promptly. The speaker shows by example how employee feedback led to concrete improvements: equipping a safe crossing to a barge and installing a mobile platform for cooling tower maintenance. Over a year, more than 100 meetings were held and over 200 measures were implemented, proving to employees that their voices are heard.

Transformation of Industrial Training

Incident analysis revealed a low level of competence: employees often did not know basic safety requirements (for example, how to properly use PPE). In response, a training transformation project was launched:

• Interactive formats: Introducing facilitations, brainstorming, and gamification (board games, quizzes) instead of boring study of instructions.
• Practical training: First aid training and analysis of high-risk work in specially created classrooms.
• Engagement through creativity: Conducting occupational safety detective investigations and video contests, which became the basis for creating their own video instructions.

Control and Data Transparency

Transitioning to partnerships does not mean abandoning control. To prevent conflicts during inspections, digitized production control checklists were developed (separately for onshore units and the fleet). A crucial step was increasing data transparency: an increase in the number of registered incidents is viewed not as a deterioration of the situation, but as an indicator that employees are no longer afraid to report incidents, allowing for high-quality investigations and preventing recurrences.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to secure top management support and make them allies in HSE matters?
• What tools help establish an effective dialogue with the workforce?
• How to transform boring occupational safety training into an engaging and useful process?
• Why an increase in registered incidents can be a positive signal?
• How to build a control system without conflicts with production workers?