Three Safety Initiatives at TotalEnergies

From Routine to Awareness: Why Safety Rules Stop Working

Even in large international companies with an established HSE system, a problem arises: rules exist, but employees stop paying attention to them. The brain gets used to the routine, and daily operations are performed "on autopilot". Maxim Ivanov, HSE Director at Total Vostok LLC (TotalEnergies group), analyzes this problem using the example of an internal company study. The survey showed that 20% of employees did not know about the corporate goal of "zero fatalities", and 50% of work was not monitored daily for compliance with safety rules. To change the situation, the company implemented three practical initiatives aimed at increasing personnel awareness and engagement.

Initiative 1: "Safety Green Light"

The first tool, discussed in detail in the presentation, is the "Safety Green Light" procedure. It is applied immediately before starting work and takes no more than five minutes. The essence is that the responsible manager asks the performers four open-ended questions about the upcoming task and the tools used.

• Breaking out of routine: Open-ended questions force employees to think and articulate their actions, which increases vigilance.
• Process integration: The procedure can be conducted as a separate event or be part of a toolbox talk when issuing a work permit.
• Stop Work Authority: If the answers show a lack of understanding of the process or risks, work does not start (a "red light" is turned on) until the situation is fully clarified.

Initiative 2: Joint Safety Tours

The second approach is conducting joint walkthroughs of production sites involving company employees, contractors, and senior management. The speaker emphasizes that 84% of accidents in the group occur specifically with contractor workers, so their involvement is critically important.

• Focus on high risks: Tours do not necessarily cover the entire site; they can concentrate on the most dangerous work at the moment.
• Demonstrating leadership: The participation of the CEO and top management (according to an approved schedule) shows the real commitment of management to safety issues.
• Positive reinforcement: During the tours, not only violations are recorded, but also good practices ("green cards"), which positively affects the working atmosphere.

Initiative 3: Checklists for Critical Work

An analysis of incidents in the company revealed five areas with maximum risk: working at heights, working with energized (or pressurized) equipment, lifting operations, confined space entry, and hot work. Special checklists were developed for them.

• Risk visualization: One side of the card depicts a typical situation with numbered risk zones, while the other side has specific questions for verification (e.g., "Are there people in the load drop zone?").
• Accessibility for all: The tool allows even non-core specialists to effectively assess the safety of specific work.
• Analytics without punishment: When filling out the cards, the names of violators are not recorded, only the names of the companies. This encourages identifying problems rather than hiding them.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to bring employees out of "routine blindness" before starting dangerous work?
• How to organize joint safety tours with contractors and top management?
• How to use checklists to control the five most dangerous types of work?
• How to evaluate the effectiveness of implemented initiatives and integrate them into managers' KPIs?