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Safety has always been high on the agenda at B.I.G. To streamline our efforts on a global scale, we launched our first Global Safety Campaign in line with our ONE B.I.G. strategy on 28 April – coinciding with the annual World Day for Safety and Health at Work. This global approach resonated with all sites, resulting in a broad range of local initiatives, all driven by our ambitious plant and SHE managers, and put into practice by our dedicated employees.
Throwing our employees a life buoy
The campaign image? “A red and white life buoy with 8 sections”, says Group SHE Coordinator Shirley Werniers. “The buoy is easy to visualize and recognize and reminds our people of our 8 safety rules. The first section refers to our golden rule, while the other 7 sections represent our 7 life-saving rules.”
“To help our employees familiarize themselves with these rules, we took a multi-faceted approach, using a slide deck, posters, foldable leaflets in all languages, ‘Safety walks and talks’ between managers and employees to further improve safety measures, wobblers, messages on social media and on-site screens, and physical sessions and workshops to discuss safety in detail.”
From global to local
“Our initial global campaign also spawned numerous local initiatives to raise awareness of safety in the workplace, some of which were incredibly creative. In Spain, for example, all Turfgrass employees received a T-shirt with the life buoy and rules printed on them. In Belgium, many sites sought inspiration in food: they ordered doughnuts and cakes in the shape of a life buoy.”
“And it didn’t stop there: the driveway at Pinnacle USA is now lined by a row of road signs featuring our golden rule. At Technical Textiles in Comines, the local prevention advisor dressed up as a sailor and posed with a real life buoy. And in Russia, our colleagues organized an event with workshops, management speeches, gadgets, cupcakes, banners and a website, all around the theme of safety.”
Smaller campaigns for each rule
“Raising safety awareness really is an ever-ongoing effort for us. Our life-saving rules campaign was the kick-off. In the coming years, we’ll be launching smaller campaigns to focus attention separately on each individual rule. The first campaign will highlight the ‘lock out, tag out, try out principle’ (LOTOTO), which covers safe interventions on work equipment.”
