What does Safety, Health and the Environment mean to you?
I firmly believe that Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) are the cornerstones for our lasting success that guide our decisions in multiple areas. Think of the capital projects to improve health and safety in our plants, all the way to the long-term environmental improvements needed to create a healthier planet for generations to come. I try to reinforce the trust and mutual understanding we have created with the operational teams on SHE topics. And I want to create a positive, proactive dynamic through sharing activities, to transmit knowledge and experience, and by encouraging our partners to do the same at safety moments, for example. All this helps to shape the leadership and safety culture that we want to live.
Without high standards and a strong passion for safety, health, and the environment, you can’t be a leading and inspiring organization. And it’s also a way of demonstrating respect for those who work at all our sites.
What steps were taken in 2023 to enhance safety?
2023 was a year of immense change. With the creation of dsm-firmenich, we had to redesign two company approaches and turn them into one fully aligned model. It turned out that the overlap in values, systems, and roles and responsibilities helped us tremendously in creating the new governance model for our organization. That allowed us to quickly identify our priorities going forward, such as creating aligned Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) standards and Life-Saving Rules for employee safety. We will be rolling these out in the coming months together with our partners in operations, in our labs and offices.
How do high SHE standards help us achieve our goals as a company?
Setting high standards conveys a strong message and delivers clear expectations. For example, our only acceptable ambition is to reach zero incidents. Our leaders need to embrace these high standards, communicating and cascading them throughout their organization to create engagement as well as operational discipline. And it’s also a way of having a common language across all our sites, demonstrating respect for the people who work there.
How can our colleagues make their own contribution to safety in the workplace on a daily basis?
Our employees are key in achieving our goals and working with our standards: they are the center of the universe for all our SHE systems. Their individual ownership and behaviors create a living system that evolves continually. With their feedback and personal commitment, we can create a true learning organization that lives by the motto “today was good and tomorrow will be better.”