Today, Veolia is launching its 7th International Health & Safety Week (from 20 to 24 September). The objective behind this special event is to galvanise employees into even greater action with the aim of preventing accidents and safeguarding everyone's health as part of a collective effort to improve working conditions. Top of the event's agenda is fall hazard prevention.
Let’s all take charge of our health and safety!
According to WHO, falls are the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide. At Veolia, the consequences arising from such falls account for 22% of lost work days through work-related accidents. That is why the 7th International Health & Safety Week is directing its attention towards the risk of slips, trips and falls from height.
The 2020 campaign focused on raising awareness of dangerous behaviour and aimed to improve the ability to spot hazardous situations. The goal behind the 2019 campaign ("Observing is caring") was to encourage everyone to behave in a safer manner and pay greater attention to others.
Veolia CEO Antoine Frérot addressed all the Group's employees:
In 2021, we are determined to move forward with our strategy of improving risk perception and promoting responsible behaviour, with the aim of raising greater awareness of unconscious mistakes. That is why the 2021 International Health & Safety Week will shine the spotlight on the fall hazards that all Veolia employees may be exposed to. We need to continue being ever mindful of our own daily behaviour and also attentive to our colleagues' behaviour if we are to constantly create healthier and safer working environments.
The contest: life-size hazard spotting
To change our behaviour and eliminate hazards, the idea is to pick up the practices and habits that can prevent falls in the different situations typically encountered in the workplace, such as slips and trips, or when using the stairs, ladders or scaffolding.
An internal competition is therefore being organised at all the Group's sites to identify fall hazards based on a series of photos or videos (showing the hazard before and after risk treatment). These photos and videos will be uploaded to Veolia's online platform of Best practices for health and safety. After creating a shortlist of the best behaviour in each zone, the Veolia Executive Committee will pick the three winners of the "Always Safe" health and safety awards based on the following criteria: the best practice must be easy to replicate, offer good cost-effective performance and reflect the Group's expertise. The "Special Jury Prize" will be awarded to the Business Unit that has collected the largest number of best practices in relation to the size of its workforce.
Frédéric Goetz, Health & Safety Prevention Officer at Veolia, explains:
We need to drive home the message that preventing occupational risks is everyone's business. In addition to enforcing applicable legislation and fulfilling our responsibilities, we need to develop and disseminate a real risk prevention mindset throughout the Group, with all employees, managers and trade unions playing a leading role in the process. We need to continue prioritising the issue of preventing occupational risks in our Group's social dialogue as well as our training and education policies. It should play a strategic role in our work organisation, our work environment, our production processes and even when designing all our activities.
Educational workshops on the theme of "Step into safety!"
Throughout the week, an educational kit will be deployed in the workshops and used by the managers at each of the Group's sites to improve how employees individually and collectively perceive slip, trip and fall hazards in their workplace.
Online training for all employees
In a bid to ramp up its health and safety culture, Veolia has designed an online training programme covering the 10 management standards for the Group's high-risk activities. The programme applies to all employees, Business Units and Veolia zones, and can be taken online. The Group began rolling out the programme in June with a first mandatory course for everyone. This step includes an "Introduction to Veolia's health and safety culture" and the "Traffic regulations in the workplace" standard, for which an individual certificate is issued to confirm the level achieved. The training courses for the nine other management standards for the Group's high-risk activities will be published between now and December 2022.
