Our Golden Rules - Safety by the People, for the People

Here at Pipelife we have always based our safety management on building strong culture. We recognize that our people are the safety experts in our business – those who do the job know the risks and know best how to manage them. Our frontline workers manage risks and avoid accidents every day. That’s why we have endeavored on a new program to simplify safety and keep responsibility for it in the hands of our people. We are asking everyone, “What are your Golden Rules for safety?”.

_{WHO DECIDES WHAT?}

We decided to ask our frontline workers what the safety rules should be because we trust in their competence and it’s our duty to listen to their needs. The responsibility for safety, however, rests with the management. It’s up to the management to set the standards and support with resources – we are asking for engagement and a partnership to find best possible solutions.

_{KEEPING IT SIMPLE KEEPS US SAFER}

The most important thing in safety is to keep it simple. Keeping it simple means that people will use the rules and procedures which are put in place to protect them. In many Pipelife Countries we already have a full set of safety rules, safety instructions, procedures and other tools, but when this becomes too complex, how much of this is really used day to day?

The concept of the Golden Rules is to condense safety instructions into the things which mean the most to our people. Every company has committed to developing and using a new set of golden safety rules in its business this year.

_{THE PROCESS OF DEFINING WHAT IS ESSENTIAL}

The process is just as simple: We gather as many people with different functions together as possible and do a workshop. It is critical to have good representation from the Workers’ Councils or Union, production, maintenance, HR, technical support, logistics and administration. Together we look at examples of golden rules from other companies. We brainstorm what our rules could be and then as a team, decide on the few rules which are essential. Everyone then discusses what exceptions are allowed to these rules and what the consequences are if the rules are broken. 

_{BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLE PIPELIFE GERMANY}

Pipelife Germany was the first company to role out the new process. Workshop participants publicised the new rules by each member of the team presenting a rule back to the whole staff. T-shirts were printed and given to all workers to celebrate the change and remind everyone of their Golden Rules.

In the coming months all Pipelife businesses are scheduled to go through the same process. In this way we have made a set of simple safety rules by the people, for the people and build on Pipelife’s already strong safety culture.