Everyone must be safe when they go to work. This is why we take care of our employees, sub-contractors and everyone working under our control. With our people-first mind-set, employees are happier when they go to work, and safer working conditions enable them to deliver quality and service at a level consistent with our high standards. In the end, this is reflected in the value we create for our customers.
Safe working conditions are central to how we deliver our services; we strive to be best-in-class and that contributes to our success.
Avoiding harm makes sense from both a human and an organisational perspective. We have a responsibility to keep our people safe, so they are able to achieve their goals personally and professionally as well as to contribute to driving success at our company. Delivering quality results is a team-effort and we need all our players to reach our goals.
Creating a safety-oriented working environment
The nature of much of our work involves installing and servicing heavy machinery, which inherently comes with a certain level of safety risks. This is why we continuously emphasise the importance of being safety-oriented throughout our business practices.
A crucial part of having a safe working environment is having employees who feel safe when speaking up about safety concerns. Safety is the foundation of our work culture at FLSmidth, where employees feel empowered and respected enough to raise their voice when they see something that perhaps should be re-evaluated. As part of our emphasis on everyone being able to speak up, we have implemented an “if you see it, you own it” policy. This reminds employees and leaders that every voice is equal when it comes to addressing safety concerns and that each and every one of us is responsible for the safety of our colleagues. Speaking up takes confidence, and it is on all of us to create an environment in which we are all comfortable with asking colleagues to reconsider or stop what they are doing.
Of course, avoiding the occurrence of situations where a colleague has to speak up would be ideal. To lessen risky situations, we consider safety training a top priority. That is the best way to prevent accidents and to consistently improve working conditions for our employees. This covers training in first aid, hazards/standards, job-specific subjects and more.
Our safety-oriented work culture also affects the research and development of the solutions we offer our customers. Of course, having equipment that has longer wear life is good for the bottom line of any mining operation as it reduces maintenance costs and downtime. From a safety perspective, longer wear life also benefits the people working with the machines. Less maintenance means fewer times when people are working on a machine, effectively reducing the occurrence of risky situations. As such, focusing on safety in all aspects of business not only improves working conditions for employees, but also pushes the development of more innovative solutions.