Beyond Zero® - Culture of Caring ensures "Safety First - Mission Always"

  • Published
  • By Vicki Peters, Contributing Writer
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  Safety used to be an afterthought and now it is a top priority,...ingrained into each job.

As Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) concluded its tenth year providing operations, maintenance, and support services at Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), they achieved the best safety performance record since the start of the contract.

The ATA Safety Office personnel asked several employees to discuss the changes they have experienced in the safety culture during their time at AEDC. To ensure frank discussion, responses were submitted anonymously in writing. Those interviewed had been on the job anywhere from a few weeks to over 30 years and included industrial and office personnel. When reviewing the comments, it became evident that all have become aware that safety is indeed, as stated by the engineer quoted above, "a top priority."

Operating as a joint venture with Jacobs Engineering as the managing partner with Pacific Architects and Engineering (PAE) and GP Strategies, ATA assumed the existing workforce in October 2003 in the midst of a struggling safety program. It was a period when many employees viewed safety as a negative sort of "forced compliance" and at a time when too many employees were being hurt.

At the onset of the operating contract, ATA sought to turn this around. The company took aggressive steps to establish a different safety culture reflecting the Jacobs philosophy that "our employees are our greatest asset." This effort did have a significant effect on the safety culture. From the start, the company implemented a code of safe work practices and took aggressive action to increase the employee's role in being responsible for safety of self and others while empowering each worker to challenge unsafe conditions and practices. In 2008, ATA integrated the AEDC safety philosophy of "Safety First - Mission Always" with the Jacobs Beyond Zero® approach to workplace well-being and project safety.

Ten years later, responses from employees surveyed in a variety of jobs indicate ATA has indeed changed the climate of safety from one of "enforcement" to a culture of "empowerment" and caring. It is a process that is still evolving. Beyond Zero is more about the journey than the establishment of a program.

Within the first year of the contract, ATA launched a program to embed safety professionals in organizations where the greatest number of injuries had occurred. As these personnel began to spend more time in the field and had more one-on-one contact with the workforce, areas of concern were identified and a Safe, Reliable and Effective Operations program was born. To foster involvement of all personnel, daily toolbox meetings were initiated to address on- and off-the-job safety. High interest facility inspections, an automated system safety process, and an emphasis on training and pre-planning tasks came at the same time. A new hazard abatement plan coupled with a focus on increased communication and the importance of personal and shared responsibility soon followed.

These efforts placed emphasis on use of proper personal protective equipment (PPE), and launched a campaign to encourage employees to "Just fix it" upon encountering a problem within their power to correct. One employee noted that there is more empowerment for the employees to step in and stop work if a situation appears to be unsafe, observing the biggest impact as an office worker that even the most minute object can cause a slip, trip, or fall.

Employees interviewed agreed that the increased emphasis on personal responsibility and focus on pre-planning has made the workforce safer. Most noted they now take fewer chances with jobs at home and have worked to educate family members on hidden hazards, with one voicing a conviction that safety is truly number one in everything we do at work and home.

A former instrument technician, now a supervisor, echoed this conviction, noting that safety has gone from something that we had to comply with to a daily way of doing business. The proof is in seeing folks challenge others who forget their PPE or start a shortcut that will increase the chances for an injury. This supervisor now has employees coming on a regular basis to report an unsafe condition and has watched safety go from being a job for a few to being a goal for everyone.

Changes in the culture are not "top down"; rather, they are a result of listening and acting upon sincere recommendations. One employee observed this by pointing to the importance of Safety Leadership Team meetings which resulted in a change in the way injuries are handled. These meetings in which employees from all levels work together have enabled others to see the craft employees' points of view on several issues, especially their descriptions of how uncomfortable injured employees felt when taken to the Dispensary only to be met with supervisors, managers and sometimes directors. The team improved the procedure and eliminated the need for extraneous management staff to accompany the injured employee at the dispensary. The meetings have also provided a greater appreciation for supervisors' concern for their employees.

Safety moved to the next level as the workforce claimed ownership of safety. Outside agencies took note: A major Unit Compliance Inspection credited ATA with two AFMC best practices and the workforce achieved the safest period in AEDC history in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008. Soon after, the company implemented a full Beyond Zero® deployment, which a DNV (Det Norske Veritas) audit recognized as an initiative with a "high degree of control."

The company continued focusing attention on areas of concern and high accident potential, making enhancements to the lock-out/tag-out process, establishing new standards for wire rope, and initiating an arc flash safety program which has expanded from a program primarily for electricians to a program that includes many other craft and engineering personnel. Increased emphasis on scaffolding and shoring has made a difference as well.

Scaffolding is safer as a result of work rule changes and training, explained a skilled craftsman, who also noted a change in shoring practice. He commented that workers used to jump in a hole and start shoring it. Now the same workers don't even think about going in a hole without first shoring it from the top and benching it back.

During FY 2010 and 2011, things took a turn, and people were being hurt more frequently. ATA took action with a series of Beyond Zero® initiatives, beginning with additional training and a corporate reach-back Safety Evaluation Review. This review identified concerns which were then tracked via a Road Map to Recovery. This was later renamed the Operation Safety Roadmap and became the framework to continue driving safety improvements.

As problem areas were identified, ATA took action focusing on sprains and strains and slips, trips and falls. Toolbox meetings and on-site production of safety videos featured ATA craft personnel in action. These videos focused on problem areas, including lifting and climbing. Two of the employees surveyed noted the change in their own work practices. One has made it a practice to use the proper method for lifting and setting down heavy objects. Another now focuses on using the right equipment for the job, like using a step ladder instead of a chair.

The rise in injuries coincided with a period that brought the embedded safety professionals back to the office, and the company transitioned to a new model for embedded safety professionals and increased emphasis on preplanning and use of the Job Safety Analysis (JSA). An abbreviated version of the JSA was developed for routine jobs in the form of a Job Safety Review pocket card. Other initiatives including the emphasis on near miss sharing were put in place. The negative trend turned around.

Safety is now a primary aspect of planning work instead of an afterthought commented one project manager who added that risk assessment and risk mitigation in life are now taught to the family at home. Another employee acknowledged the change in culture by stating that it took a long time to change our past culture, but it has truly paid off by taking us from very little safety to an outstanding safety program.

This summer, ATA took a look at AEDC injuries over the years and identified AEDC's Top 10 Critical Risks. Periodic emphasis on these key risks together with other safety measures and employee buy-in is already paying off with reduced incidents and increased employee ownership of safety.

Long-term employees see and are embracing the change in culture: One employee of 31 years points to it as the only true culture change in over three decades, explaining that many of the companies that have been here have tried to change the culture in one way or another, but none have succeeded until now. This veteran worker concluded by remarking that ATA should be proud as it has accomplished not only a culture change but also a very good thing.

One engineer who is now a manager pointed to a turnaround in his own personal attitude several years into the ATA contract. He stated that early on he was rather angry and personally insulted thinking that Jacobs was insinuating that he wasn't safe and didn't care about the people he worked with. He explained that he knew that he never wanted to see anyone hurt, but believed that some things just happen outside of our control. He wanted to meet the person that was saying he didn't care. He added that once he understood that we do have much more control of things that cause injuries leading to potential fatalities, it all "started clicking" for him. He said that it began to make sense that if we do have control of those things that can potentially cause so much hurt in our team mates lives, then we should be doing the best we can to try to eliminate those things. That is how you show you care for each other, it occurred to him one day; this is what Beyond Zero has been saying all along. It is not just a safety program but common sense. He concluded that this is when he finally caught onto "A Culture of Caring."

Another employee appreciates the company's and management's long-term commitment to the Beyond Zero approach, explaining that the company has shown that the Culture of Caring is not a "safety fad" or "program of the month," but an important goal worth working toward.

Buy-in to the culture of caring has gone beyond the job with another long-term employee recognizing the ATA effort as being well above the norm, leading employees to look at safety completely differently. With a son in the Industrial Maintenance program in trade school, this employee now expresses a hope that wherever the young man goes to work that safety on his job site is at least half of how we care for and look after our people's well-being.

Short-term employees have also recognized the culture compared to other companies where they have worked. One temporary craft employee who has held various contract jobs over a 20-year period but had only been with ATA a few weeks summed it up by calling ATA the best place ever to work. This company really cares about its employees and makes us feel like we matter. They do things that make the job safer and easier. The employee concluded with a strong desire to come back.

"If you look at the overall safety performance over the years, there have certainly been some ups and downs as different 'initiatives' were implemented," observed Catherine Plunkett, ATA Safety, Health and Environmental Manager. "I think the difference now is the level of responsibility that each employee feels toward his own safety as well as the safety of each other. 'Beyond Zero - A Culture of Caring' is not an initiative but is becoming a cultural norm that will enable us to sustain the gains in performance as well as continue to drive improvements. After all, it's about going home safely to our families."