How to Make a Company More Efficient by Integrating Safety into Business Processes
Transforming the HSE Function: From Control to Partnership
Historically, the HSE department is often perceived by production units as a controlling body whose main task is to issue prescriptions and avoid fines. However, modern business requires a different approach. Safety must become an integral part of operational activities, not an additional burden. During the webinar, Dmitry Zubov analyzes in detail the process of transforming the HSE function using the example of Danone's production sites, where an HSE specialist has the same level of influence in decision-making as a production manager or chief engineer.
Integrating Safety into the HR Cycle and Training System
The formation of a safety culture begins long before an employee enters the workplace. The speaker demonstrates, using his company as an example, how assessing a candidate's attitude towards risks and safety rules is integrated into the hiring process. This allows for the early screening of those prone to unjustified risk and saves resources on subsequent behavior correction.
In addition, safety competencies are built into the overall personnel development matrix. Employees independently participate in risk assessments when launching new equipment and developing cleaning or setup standards. This approach explains why it is important to follow the rules: people better understand the restrictions they helped formulate, which reduces the need for constant supervision by line managers.
Risk Management When Working with Contractors
Modernizing production is inevitably linked to involving contractors, who often perform high-risk work. Increasing the customer's staff of controllers is a dead-end path leading to missed deadlines and inflated budgets. The presentation details the contractor management algorithm: from including specific safety requirements in the terms of reference and validation at the tender stage to joint risk management directly on site and post-project evaluation. Special attention is paid to complex cases, such as interacting with monopoly companies whose internal safety standards may fall short of the customer's requirements.
Wellbeing: The Impact of Stress on Occupational Injuries
An important factor directly affecting safety is the mental health of workers. Chronic stress reduces concentration, which is critically dangerous when working with production equipment. The speaker analyzes how wellbeing programs and the development of stress management skills among line managers help prevent incidents. A shift supervisor's ability to notice an employee's atypical condition in time and react appropriately (up to temporary suspension from work in a hazardous area) becomes an effective tool for reducing injuries.
What you will learn from this webinar:
- How to restructure enterprise management so the HSE department becomes an equal business partner?
- What criteria to use for assessing candidates' attitudes toward safety during interviews?
- How to involve production personnel in independent risk assessment and instruction development?
- What to do if a monopoly contractor refuses to comply with your internal safety standards?
- How can a line manager recognize a dangerous level of stress in an employee and prevent a potential incident?
Comments 16
Elena Vasilyeva: Does your enterprise have tools for production personnel to directly report to top managers that their workplace doesn't meet safety requirements, or that their immediate supervisor demands unsafe work (and so on)? Perhaps some mobile app is used for this?
Yes, such capability exists both anonymously (suggestion boxes, QR codes for messages) and personally (all top managers are required to regularly conduct behavioral audits and safety dialogues throughout the entire enterprise territory).
Elena Vasilyeva: Does production personnel participate in occupational risk assessment at their workplace?
Absolutely! Without this, a full assessment cannot be conducted: for example, you need to assess risks when working on some unit — the shop manager may also remember how to work on this equipment, but since they moved to office work, the line was modified, meaning new unknown hazards and risks have appeared. Conducting risk assessment without the work performers is pointless.
Mikhail Pupchenkov: How can you influence employees who have been working at the plant for many years, who worked even before the arrival of new safety-oriented management? Example: implementing safety footwear — employees, especially older ones, complain all day that it's heavy, uncomfortable, hot, etc.
This is a normal change management process, which has its own rules for effective management. It's important to understand what is being done and for what purpose, choose the right tools, and find several "change agents" who will support you. You can also use disciplinary measures, but the positive example of managers and working with objections will work best (before starting changes, you need to understand in advance what obstacles you will face and how you will manage them).
Andrey Tolstopyatov: How do you establish communication for information exchange with production personnel and specialists? What communication channels exist, how can employees share concerns or make suggestions? How important do you consider this communication? In training, do you go with video films, lessons and self-paced trainings, or in-person trainings?
Any contacts: personal conversations, safety dialogues, near-miss and hazardous conditions reporting system, discussions within production meetings, physical suggestion boxes, QR codes for collecting suggestions, email communication, enterprise management systems, within incident investigation working groups, risk assessments, safety contacts at meetings. I consider these contacts the foundation for developing safety culture. Training includes both in-person formats, films/videos, and electronic courses of varying complexity levels.
Anastasia Snezhkova: Good afternoon, is a phased plan for integrating safety into business processes being developed? Can processes be prioritized for implementation?
No, there is no strategic plan at the Group of companies level yet; a "pilot" is being developed at one of the factories.
Vitaliy Dmitruk: Do you conduct training for professionally important qualities (including psychological)?
We've started with a stress management program for now
Mikhail Pupchenkov: Where should one start when building a process for qualified contractor safety selection? Previously, such a system was not used in the company.
Start with defining a strategy for safe contractor management and getting it approved at the company-wide leadership level. This cannot be a process of the OHS department alone — it requires involving the procurement department, finance department, project department, and operational divisions. And in the strategy itself, I would start with defining what safety criteria should apply to what type of contractor depending on the type of work performed (= risks).
Elena Vasilyeva: Does your company use a 3-level OHS and fire safety compliance monitoring system?
Yes.
Oleg Nikulin: How do you solve the shortage among contracting organizations? How do you balance between capital investment execution and choosing a contractor with a low OHS level?
We have not encountered such a problem.
Vitaliy Dmitruk: Do you assess psychologically important professional qualities?
Focus on psychological instability, willingness to disregard safety rules, readiness to take reckless risks
Anastasia Pozdnyakova: What tools does the company use to engage production workers (simplified NM reporting system, programs, or something else)? Thank you.
All kinds: trainings, motivational programs, bonuses, involvement in internal trainer programs, and providing opportunities to work on and lead safety programs and tools.
Andrey Tolstopyatov: How do you manage to "educate" contractors regarding required training and compliance with basic rules before being allowed to work? Do you provide reviews of their work so they can work at other enterprises and pass selection more easily? Can individual entrepreneurs work with you, or only well-known companies?
Of course, it is much more convenient for us to work with large well-known companies that already have an effective OHS department. We conduct very detailed selection, request references, verify their injury statistics, check for all necessary certificates (personnel, tools, equipment, PPE, OHS department effectiveness), and thoroughly familiarize them with our specific risks and requirements so they can demonstrate their readiness to comply. If necessary, we conduct training ourselves. But we have no restrictions and, if required, we also work with individual entrepreneurs.
Anzhelika Vasilyeva: What arguments worked for moving the HSE Manager to report directly to the CEO?
In our situation, this was a decision that the Safety Director agreed upon with the safety committee of the entire company in the country; after that, approval from individual enterprise directors was no longer required.
Vitaliy Dmitruk: Does a psychologist conduct preliminary professional selection (including for safety commitment)? Or HSE employees?
Recruitment staff (recruiters). They have clear instructions on the questions that need to be asked to candidates and criteria for evaluating responses.
Svetlana Tretyakova: What specific steps were taken to integrate safety into the technological process? What specialists were involved in this work?
Risk assessment. We compiled a registry of absolutely all processes that exist in production: floor washing, scheduled equipment maintenance, consumable replacement, quality tests, equipment setup, etc. (all processes were described in great detail), and based on this, we conducted work on updating instructions, training, engineering and organizational risk management measures, provision of necessary PPE, organization of an audit system, employee motivation programs, etc. (see previous answer). All employees performing any work were involved, as well as experts from OHS and the HR department.
Sergey Titov: Are human error prevention tools integrated into specific processes, and who analyzes their adequacy?
Following incident investigations (not only within the company but also "external" ones, audit results, risk assessments, etc.), root cause analysis is conducted and a corrective action plan is created specifically aimed at preventing recurrence of similar incidents. As a result, we get new safety instructions, trainings, additional motivation and control tools, equipment upgrades, process changes, implementation of new PPE, etc. The quality of this work is assessed by the absence of incident recurrence for the same root cause. Then we analyze: what didn't work — did we incorrectly identify root causes, poorly plan countermeasures, implement them poorly, or fail to regularly analyze information about similar cases at other sites.
Nikolay Tolokonnikov: How do you engage the company manager (enterprise director) in the safety process?
It depends on the director's profile. Some can be engaged by explaining how safe operations will help avoid time losses on investigations or negative impact on the company's reputation or financial costs (sick leaves, overtime, replacements for injured workers, insurance premium increases); for some it's important that their company is modern and meets ESG criteria; for others — by reducing regulatory attention (labor inspection); for some — by expanding the "portfolio" of production achievements. And some need to be warned about high unmanaged risks that, without their personal involvement, can turn into injuries.
Anzhelika Vasilyeva: What actions did you take to change the attitude of the company's HSE specialists (who issued compliance orders) toward their work?
We updated the job description and began training employees with a focus on safety leadership. We discussed with the team their understanding of tasks, expectations from the OHS director's team (= company expectations). We conducted developmental conversations. Not everyone managed to change; after understanding that a person was not willing to make efforts to meet the company's expectations, some left on their own, and we had to part ways with others.