Health #&# Safety
Martin Duverne,
The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us that health is incredibly important, impacting the very functioning of organizations. Fives has made every effort to ensure that its employees have been kept safe and well during this unusual period, while continuing to maintain its business targets where possible.
Number of severe lost-time accidents reduced by two-thirds since 2009
Keeping people safe, safeguarding the business
Due to its business in China, Fives was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic very early on, before it spread to all the countries where the Group operates. The Group's agile organization allowed it to rapidly adapt to this exceptional situation, with the definition of a central framework later adapted by each region. Fives considered local health and safety rules and recommendations, adapting them into health protocols adapted to specific local situations.
Safety: a successful program
2020 marked the end of the “2020 Safety Ambition” program launched in 2017.
The Group made progress thanks to the professionalism of all its Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) teams and the involvement of all employees, both at Group and Subsidiary level. The sharing of best practices, the implementation of tools, training, but also the deployment of control systems helped improve Group Safety performance. Objectives in terms of frequency rate and number of lost-time accidents were reached. However these results should be considered with care. The pandemic changed the company’s working organization and therefore the nature of Health & Safety risks: fewer people on site and closer supervision, travel restrictions and an increase in working from home.
In 2021, the Group will pursue its action plan to further reinforce the Safety culture at each Subsidiary, with the objective of “zero fatal accidents and zero severe accidents”. Moreover, priority will be given to risk prevention actions linked to employee activities at customer sites.
An application to better understand Safety on a daily basis
The Fives Aluminium Division has developed an application which completely digitalizes the Safety information sharing process, enabling real-time data feedback and improved monitoring of actions taken.
It combines several types of Safety actions performed on a daily basis: SafetyStop (risk analysis before a task), FSOD (Field Safety Observation & Dialog: safety interaction), Find-It/Fix-It (identifying, reporting and resolving a problem or notifying a third party to take action), or even equipment inspection (checking multiple compliance points for equipment used). A real toolbox, it combines several functionalities: reporting incidents, associating an action plan, checking hazardous product files, viewing performance in real-time, etc.
The intuitive interface makes the tool easy to use, resulting in a better understanding of Safety by users, including while working at third-party sites.
This tool is currently being expanded to other Group activities.