September-October 2009 enewsletter

Transcription

1 September-October 2009 enewsletter DuPont Safety Resources This enewsletter provides insights to help your company achieve its safety and sustainability objectives. This month we focus on lessons learned from DuPont sustainability initiatives; describe a proven correlation between a strong safety culture and actual safety performance; and invite you to learn how workplace safety can be implemented in public spaces. feature Lessons from DuPont s Experience in Sustainability Sustainability, as an environmental concept, is relatively new and reflects the evolving perspective surrounding the protection of our planet. The corporate response to environmental issues has changed over the years and is changing now to meet the demands of sustainability. case study Shopping center specialist Sonae Sierra uses DuPont to protect millions of shoppers worldwide With 51 shoppping centers in Europe and Brazil, 3 sites currently in construction and 11 new projects in different phases of completion, Sonae Sierra is one of the fastest growing international shopping center specialists. chart focus Safety Culture and Safety Performance Correlation To determine whether safety culture 1 is related to safety performance 2 DuPont analyzed 88,000 survey respondents at 21 companies. By calculating a value called Relative Culture Strength (RCS), DuPont was able to compare Relative Culture Strength and OSHA total recordable injury rates. View the current enewsletter on

2 feature Lessons from DuPont s Experience in Sustainability Sustainability, as an environmental concept, is relatively new and reflects the evolving perspective surrounding the protection of our planet. The corporate response to environmental issues has changed over the years and is changing now to meet the demands of sustainability. In the 1970s and 1980s, DuPont focused on internal safety and meeting environmental regulations. By the late 80s our emphasis had shifted to corporate environmentalism and exceeding not just meeting regulatory requirements. In the late 1990s, our focus shifted to sustainable growth. We believe sustainable growth is fundamental to our business. That s why our current corporate mission is creating shareholder and societal value while reducing the environmental footprint throughout our value chains. From our initial efforts in sustainability, we have moved toward the goal of improved energy efficiency through corporate climate change initiatives. We also set energy efficiency goals to be met by the year The first goal is to hold energy use flat at the 1990 level. The solutions we developed included changes to instrumentation and processes, and the initiation of modern heat management techniques, such as steam traps and heat recovery. Our results to date have been promising. We have seen a 7% decrease in energy use from our 1990 baseline, and we have generated more than $3 billion in energy cost savings, again since During this time, we have also increased production by over 40%. Our second goal for 2010 is to obtain 10% of our energy from renewable resources, with the goal of reducing upstream emissions, fuel costs, and exposure to volatile price fluctuations. While the lessons we have learned are many, there are six lessons, in particular, that have been invaluable in helping us plot the future. First, we focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, specifically through reduction of nitrous oxide and trifluromethane. By introducing an end-of-pipe capturing technique, we were able to reduce our nitrous oxide emissions by 90%. And improvements to refrigerant production processes greatly reduced trifluromethane emissions..

3 feature 1. There must be a vision. Our company s vision has evolved over time. As far back as 1989, there were many of us who believed that CEO stood for Chief Environmental Officer. Since the 1990s we have been guided by the phrase, The Goal is Zero, meaning zero injuries, zero illnesses, zero incidents, zero waste, and zero emissions. A lofty goal, yes, but look how far we have come. Between 2006 and 2007, we reduced total recordable injuries by 25 percent and total incidents by 22 percent. This past decade has seen another shift in our corporate philosophy, from environmental stewardship to sustainable growth. 2. The vision requires a champion. There must be someone who can turn plans into action. Specifically, the champion s assignment is to develop systems that will put our environmental vision into effect. At DuPont this is a vice presidentlevel assignment, because the role requires both the scope and clout to get things done. 5. Award accomplishments. Let people know when they are doing the right things for improving and maintaining sustainability. Analyze and broadcast their results. We have established Sustainable Growth Excellence Awards to recognize our employees, and eligibility for these awards is global. 6. Form relationships with outside groups and individuals. We meet with and talk to key NGOs and other outside groups on a regular basis for a mutual exchange of information. Such relationships create a sounding board for new ideas, a quality check for ongoing activities, and a synergistic interaction that is beneficial to all parties. DuPont also provides consulting services in energy management. 3. There must be measurable goals. We have set sustainability goals which we expect to meet by the year Review strategy. There need to be regular strategy reviews to discuss progress, roadblocks, opportunities, the need for changes in strategy, and other issues that affect progress.

4 case study Shopping center specialist Sonae Sierra uses DuPont to protect millions of shoppers worldwide With 51 shoppping centers in Europe and Brazil, 3 sites currently in construction and 11 new projects in different phases of completion, Sonae Sierra is one of the fastest growing international shopping center specialists. In 2004, when the company started working with DuPont, Sonae Sierra was fully committed to a sustainable development business model, but there was no safety culture or safety management system in place. The constant opening of new shopping centers, with hundreds of new people joining the Sonae Sierra community every year, made it crucial to have a proper safety organization. We feel it is our duty to be a responsible member of the society in which we operate Pedro Soveral Rodrigues, Head of Safety and Health at Sonae Sierra, said. Our top management was very impressed with the DuPont approach and we were convinced we needed to implement a culture of anticipation to prevent accidents, both at construction and at operational levels, as well as integrate the culture into each individual s attitude. This would contribute to improving our social responsibility and business performance, he added. According to the DuPont team, at the start of the project, safety at Sonae Sierra was limited to a few emergency procedures and was the sole responsibility of one safety professional within the entire organization. DuPont consultants suggested setting up a global safety and health management system supported by a safety and health network which reports directly to the Sonae Sierra CEO. This network is led by a central committee which decides on the safety and health strategy and targets for the organization and a safety and health office. It also relies on the work of five permanent sub-committees, each dedicated to a specific area of safety and health management that propose action plans to achieve these targets and standardise good practices across the company. In cooperation with Sonae Sierra s management, DuPont also designed and implemented a wide variety of safety tools ranging from safety meetings to trainings, such as Safety Preventive Observations (SPO), a form of behavioural audit that records the number of non-conformances-unsafe behaviors-made per hour in relation to safety and health. DuPont consultants coached Sonae Sierra s management at all levels- site, regional and global on how to implement safety procedures and develop a culture of safety awareness that would spread through the whole organization. By the end of 2008, and with the help of safety observation observations, Sonae Sierra registered a 47% reduction of nonconformances per hour since the beginning of the project across a sample of nine reference sites. Sonae Sierra has been recognized internationally with a number of awards for the high safety and health standards and practices it has achieved.

5 chart focus Safety Culture and Safety Performance Correlation To determine whether safety culture 1 is related to safety performance 2 DuPont analyzed 88,000 survey respondents at 21 companies. By calculating a value called Relative Culture Strength (RCS), DuPont was able to compare Relative Culture Strength and OSHA total recordable injury rates. In general, the exhibit below shows that greater cultural strength relates to a lower injury rate. We believe that when an organization has a weaker safety culture, it may get lucky and have one or more years of relatively good safety performance, but that performance is less sustainable than in an organization with a stronger safety culture. Organizations with good safety performance but a weak safety culture are at larger risk of experiencing a greater rate of injuries in the future than are organizations with a strong safety culture. 1 Based on measurement across three elements of safety management: Leadership, Structure and Processes and Actions. 2 As measured by US OSHA s Total Recordable Injury rate.