Many safety pros wish they could “bubble wrap” their workers to keep them safe because at times it feels like it would be so much easier than trying to keep them engaged in safety training. While literally using transparent plastic packaging material on employees is not the end goal safety pros are looking for, the metaphor of bubble-wrapping employees to keep them safe is.
“Unfortunately, we are not in a position to ‘bubble wrap’ everyone in order to keep them safe. So we did the next best thing and used bubbles as our launch theme to engage with and communicate the SafeStart message to all our employees in a fun and memorable way,” said Johnny de Mesquita, Epiroc Regional SHEQ Manager for Southern Africa.
The bubble launch theme included a host of activities for Epiroc South Africa employees. This included industrial theatre (the use of actors to convey a specific message)—the serious safety message was kept light and festive by two comedic actors—Zorb Ball races (an inflatable ball that resembles bubble wrap), bubble tea, and wellness screenings.
Epiroc knows that if they truly want to protect their employees, they need to reach them on a personal level. And the launch party was a great way to do that. Not only did it impact employee engagement for the better but it also increased productivity, decreased downtime, and improved morale and safety site-wide.
As leaders in human factors management, SafeStart provides solutions to increase personal safety skills. There’s also a strong focus on 24/7 safety that further sustains the above-mentioned benefits. A recently published SafeStart International success story details Epiroc Southern African Region’s plan to train their workers in SafeStart.
“The challenge is to make sure that everyone is trained and equipped with all the information they need and that no one is left behind to help us all prevent daily critical errors and/or decisions compromised by rushing, frustration, fatigue and complacency. Our main objective is to report near-misses and unsafe behavior continuously towards reduction of incidents and property damages in the workplace, and to ultimately decrease LTI (Lost Time Injury) to ZERO,” concludes de Mesquita.
Epiroc supplies innovative mining equipment and services for drilling and rock excavation. There is a large degree of professional risk involved in the work they do, and personal safety is more important to Epiroc than anything else they do. Epiroc South Africa began its SafeStart training in late 2021 and has plans to conclude by the end of 2022. Check out the full case study here. This represents another important stage in Epiroc’s global safety journey which is documented in this in-depth discussion with Epiroc’s Global Safety Manager David Bianco.