Sustaining Safety Culture Improvement Results

From a "Policing" Culture to Proactive Safety

The transition from reactive HSE management to a proactive one is one of the most difficult challenges for large industrial enterprises. Often, initiatives fade away after the active implementation phase ends. In his presentation, Vladimir Varlamov, Director of the HSE Management System Development Department at Metalloinvest, analyzes practical experience in transforming corporate culture and explains why accurate diagnostics of the current state and unconditional support from top management are critical for successful changes.

Using his company as an example, the speaker shows how they managed to reduce fatal and severe injury rates by 90% in two and a half years. The key factor was working in four directions: people, processes, safe environment, and the transformation of the HSE service itself, where each tool was implemented strictly in accordance with the maturity level of a specific enterprise.

Institutionalizing Changes: Proactive Departments

Many companies face the fact that after completing a project to implement new safety tools, the results begin to degrade. To avoid this, it is necessary to transfer project teams into permanent organizational structures. The presentation details the process of creating safety culture development departments.

These units bring together risk managers and internal trainers who do not just record violations but help production management resolve bottlenecks. They develop barrier diagrams, digitize risks, and help line managers overcome bureaucratic obstacles when requesting resources to eliminate hazards.

A Cascade of Committees Instead of Punitive Inspections

Special attention is paid to building open communication between workers and top management. The speaker analyzes the evolution of the information system — the transition from traditional production control commissions to a cascade of HSE committees. This structure works as a single point for gathering competencies to solve problems at every level: from the CEO to shift meetings in workshops. If a problem cannot be solved at the base level due to a lack of resources, it is escalated higher, ensuring the actual elimination of the root causes of risks.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to properly diagnose the current level of safety culture to avoid mistakes in choosing tools?
• Why traditional HSE instructions stop working and how to adapt them to a risk-oriented approach?
• How to transform a risk management project team into a fully-fledged proactive department?
• How to build a cascade of committees for effective communication and the elimination of bureaucratic barriers?
• How to combine management work standards and a risk management system based on leadership?