Safety―It’s About Observation

When driving a vehicle, we pay attention to what is happening around us to stay safe. We also watch what is happening with the vehicle itself. Is it leaking fuel? Does it have low tire pressure? Is there anything that could put the vehicle occupants or others in danger?

The same is true for being mindful of safety at work. At Alexandria Industries, we put the safety of employees first. We empower them to keep safety top-of-mind. We teach them to think differently about safety by noticing what is safe and unsafe, making safe decisions, and by viewing others.

Our focus on safety means putting extensive effort into safety improvements across the company. It is about changing our mindset and prompting a cultural change where safety trumps production—100% of the time.

Everyone’s safety matters. From the production line to the front office, from Minnesota to Indiana and Texas, all employees will receive safety training.

STOP Together

We implemented the Dupont Safety Training Observation Program® (STOP) in 2017, starting with training our leadership team first because they are ultimately responsible for our safety. As team leaders, safety starts with them. They set the standard and lead by example for their teams. Our leadership team also understands our safety concerns, and can identify potential pitfalls.

In all of our training, however, we ask every employee to take responsibility for their individual safety, as well as the safety of others they work with.

Whether sitting at our desk, walking through the plant, running the aluminum extrusion press, or using the overhead crane, we all have a responsibility to think about our actions and make choices that keep us safe. It is up to each of us to put in the extra effort to identify, call-out and correct any unsafe situations and practices.

This safety focus aligns well with our value of Employee Well-Being and fits perfectly with our servant leadership culture. We need to watch out for each other. We all want our coworkers safe, and we should do whatever we can so that everyone can go home safely at the end of their workdays.

Start Seeing Safety

Safety is bigger than a (manufacturing) company initiative. We want employees to “see safety” everywhere. At work, at home, on the ball field, and, of course, while driving.

How do we know if our employees are safe at work? Our safety incidences decrease.

With STOP, employees representing different functional areas and different roles in the company perform “Safety Observations,” where they focus on the behaviors of people and their actions. They are also observing the equipment and environment for hazards.

Focusing on the actions of people is integral to safety, due to the direct relationship between people and their actions that create the unsafe conditions.

The safety observation is “blind.” Employee names are never directly tied to an observation. The sole intent of the observation is to determine safety risks and areas of concern. It is not to identify unsafe workers personally.

Relying on the STOP Safety Observation checklist, the team evaluates individual actions and behaviors and looks for areas of potential safety hazards, including:

• Actions
  • Personal protective equipment
  • Actions of people
  • Positions of people
  • Tools and Equipment
  • Procedures
  • Housekeeping
• Conditions
  • Tools and Equipment
  • Work areas and structures
  • Environment

The observing team is looking to determine if the tools and equipment are the right ones for the job. They also ask employees to share concerns about their work environments, and make suggestions for the company to make their jobs safer. It is vital to see and hear directly from employees, what they need to be safe.

“The STOP program makes everyone, including myself, more engaged in our overall safety efforts,” said Matt Stier, CNC machine operator. “My coworkers feel comfortable expressing safety concerns with people from the entire facility.”

With our new safety mindset, we open ourselves up to seeing things differently. We recognize that any recommended changes could benefit us and lead us all to be safer. In fact, a recently safety-trained employee, shared a concern with the safety director (no less), about the director taking two steps at-a-time up the staircase. Regardless if it is the safety director or the human resources director, everyone has a responsibility for safety.

A Stake in Safety

We have spent nearly 1,300 hours training employees on STOP and we are not done yet. In just over a year, we have reduced our safety incidences by 50 percent.

STOP continues to be an ever-evolving program. As we do our safety observations, we continue to learn what we can do to be safer. Already, we have identified and corrected maintenance issues, wrong equipment for a job and ergonomic issues. These are just a few of the changes we have made as a direct result of STOP.

As a bonus, our employees are able to apply what they have learned, at home. STOP trains us to look for any potential safety issues regardless of where we are.

When was the last time you thought about your safety or the safety of your colleagues?

At Alexandria Industries, we put employee safety first. We empower employees with the training and tools they need to make safety a priority at work, at home and out in our communities. If you would like to learn more about our safety program, contact Chris Ebnet at cebnet@alexandriaindustries.com.