Achieving Zero - ESBI Safety Conference

It's not often Achieving ZERO is headlined as a theme for a business conference but by 5pm on January 20th over 120 ESB International (ESBI) managers and safety representatives understood why and how this was to be achieved. The annual ESBI Safety and Health conference took the theme as a call to engage with hearts as well as minds. The conference was organised by Brian Gray, Manager Coordination of Health and Safety, ESBI.

"Achieving ZERO, as a safety target is very, very challenging," commented Brian. "In order to work towards such a stretching goal we need to look critically at our safety culture and how we can work with staff and contractors to improve it. While we can trot out the usual safety statistics again and again, the real challenge is getting behind the statistics, looking past the behaviours and identifying how we can shape and influence the attitudes that drive these injuries."

How to Achieve ZERO?
In his opening address, Michael McNicholas, Executive Director, ESBI, got straight to the point, "The safety of our staff and contractors' staff is our primary responsibility as managers in ESBI. Our target is zero injuries. If every one of us keeps ourselves safe and if every team in ESBI keeps itself safe then we will achieve ZERO injuries in ESBI. So your target is zero injuries for you and your teams. We ask you to engage with all your staff and contractors to focus on this goal from the start of the year. If we as individuals, as team leaders and as managers keep focussed on this goal every day, then and only then can we get to ZERO.

"Michael also emphasised how the conference was prioritised for January to help focus everyone in ESBI on safety from the very start of the year.

During the day, which included a number of workshops, practical presentations were delivered by: Dave Fellows, General Electric, on Contractor Engagement, The Overhaul Perspective; Steve Hails, Siemens, on Contractor Engagement, The Site Perspective; and Paul Murphy, Marchwood Project Manager, ESBI Engineering and Facility Management, who facilitated a workshop on Engaging with Our Contractors.

The remainder of the day was devoted to exploring the concept of safety culture with Charles Shoesmith from PsychaLogica presenting and facilitating a session on Steps to Developing a Safety Culture.

Relaying in very personal terms his own experience was Ken Woodward who gave a very impactful account of how he lost his eyesight in an industrial accident, the impact it had on the company, his colleagues, his family and ultimately, the safety culture. In relation to safety, Ken's mantra revolved around how we all need to constantly ask ourselves how far am I going to take it? EM