Here’s a company that’s achieved a 21 percent reduction in OSHA recordables and historic improvements in safety performance with a top-down commitment to a safety and a broad-based safety campaign that hits all the right notes.
At Covanta Energy, headquartered in Morristown, NJ, safety initiatives are all part of a "pathway for continuous safety Improvement," according to vice president of corporate safety and health Beth Hurley.
A recent push started in 2009 with a top-down commitment from Covanta Energy president and CEO Anthony Orlando when he released a program known as STEP-UP, which stands for Safety Today and Everyday Is Paramount; Unleash the Power. The campaign features high levels of accountability and data-driven processes.
Incident Investigations
A key component of STEP-UP involves a series of actions in the event of an accident or serious near miss.
First, details of the incident must be phoned within 24 hours to Covanta Energy’s chief operating officer. The call is made by the facility manager who explains the circumstances of the incident in detail.
This precipitates an immediate report that is sent to all senior managers and members of the safety organization. The intent is to ensure that any facilities with similar conditions learn of the hazards and take steps to remove their employees from risk.
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Stepped-Up Response
Covanta’s stepped-up response to incidents also mandates a formal accident review conference call. Participants include senior-, regional-, and plant-level managers as well as the employee(s) involved in the accident or near miss.
"We begin the call by asking the injured party to give us a description of what went on because we know they are the ones who can best help us understand the situation," says Hurley. The tone is "instructive and communicative, not punitive," she adds.
The findings from the call are used by the accident investigation team (composed of employees and managers) to prepare an analysis of the incident. The material is formatted into a PowerPoint® presentation that is entered, along with any relevant photos, into an in-house "learning library" on Covanta’s intranet that can be accessed by anyone in the company. The material is used for training with the goal of eliminating similar future incidents.
Under STEP-UP, employees are also asked to submit two near misses each month. These can relate to incidents, risky behaviors, or conditions that could have caused an accident. Covanta’s leaders are so convinced of the value of identifying potentially unsafe conditions and acts that they’ve linked this requirement to employees’ compensation.
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Stepping Higher
Other STEP-UP initiatives include:
- Starting every formal meeting with a brief safety message or reminder that can be offered by anyone present at the meeting.
- Requiring senior managers to attend a STEP-UP safety meeting at every North American facility each year.
- Enhancing safety training with self-produced DVDs. One set for all salaried employees addresses topics such as the nature and causes of incidents, the creation of safety norms, and principles of safety leadership. Another set for hourly employees addresses issues such as lockout/tagout, confined spaces, and ergonomics.
Covanta Energy’s safety chief Hurley is confident that the company’s renewed focus on safety improvement—strongly supported at the top—will help the company reach new levels of safety performance. She also notes a 21 percent reduction in OSHA recordables and historic improvements in safety performance last year.