CLIENT SUCCESS

by Angelica Grindle, Ph.D.

The Goal—Develop a World-Class Safety Culture

Novinium® provides cable rejuvenation services to the aging infrastructures of large industrial and utility companies. Due to their patented process for extending the life of underground cables, they have experienced phenomenal growth—expanding eight-fold in the last six years. The majority of Novinium employees are electrical linemen who work in the field delivering cable rejuvenation services.

Quebecor World Hazleton is a telephone directory printing company with approximately 330 employees. In 2000, Jack Butler, Director of Human Resources at the plant, decided to use the Values Based Safety^® Process to increase employee involvement and promote a positive approach to safety. He was also committed to employees acquiring the skills to maintain their own behavioral safety process. Two of the Design Team members, Jeff Russ, a night shift Press Room supervisor, and Amy Kleinhelter, then a temporary Bindery general worker, learnt to train all other employees as Observers. They, and 4 other Trainers, trained approximately 320 Observers in 8 weeks. Jack, Jeff, and Amy (since promoted to permanent Customer Service Representative) promote their Values Based Safety^® Process at every opportunity, prompting their peers to conduct observations, recognizing those who do participate, leading Steering Committee discussions, and modeling an enthusiastic and positive approach for everyone. Their efforts appear to be paying off – as the number of monthly observations increases, the number of injuries decreases, showing that Safety Champions like Jack, Jeff, and Amy can make a difference!

Nora Buchholz is the newly appointed Safety Manager at the Western Energy Company Rosebud Mine near Colstrip, Montana. The Rosebud Mine is a three-pit, 25,000 acre surface coal mine that produces 10 million tons annually. The mine has been in operation since 1968 and supplies nearly all its production to four steam plants in nearby Colstrip. Nora spent five years as an engineer in the Environmental Department at the Rosebud Mine and recently earned her Master's degree in Industrial Hygiene. She started her position as Safety Manager in March, 2007 when the Values-Based Safety® Process was in the initial stages of development.

As Safety Manager, Nora works in accordance with federal and state agencies, like the Mine Safety Health Administration, to ensure all safety guidelines are met. Nora handles all the annual safety inspections and also heads safety training at the mine. Kent Salitros, President and General Manager of Western Electric Company, explained that Nora works with everyone to immediately and officially respond to safety issues, "Of course, safety is everybody's job, but Nora is the one that sees that all the pieces fit together," he said.

Donna Armstrong was recently appointed the Values-Based Safety® Coordinator for Foster Wheeler in Houston, Texas. Foster Wheeler, an engineering and construction company, began designing their BSMART (Behavioral Safety Management and Recognition Techniques) process in 2006 during a period of rapid expansion for the company. Donna has been invaluable to the company's challenging implementation process from the start.

After working in radio and television, Donna began as an Administrative Assistant at Foster Wheeler. In 2006, she started her involvement in the VBSP as a member of the Design Team, was later voted as chair of the Steering Committee, and soon after moved into a newly created role as the VBS Coordinator. Among her multitude of duties, Donna is an internal Trainer, coordinates all VBSP-related training, creates media for the promotion of BSMART, and tracks and analyzes BSMART safety observation data.