EHS Day 2016

Safe behaviour is the core for Safety Co-ordinator Karin


On the 11th October 2016, 195,000 employees across Saint-Gobain celebrated EHS Day; a day dedicated to the care of the environment, health and safety.

Environment, health and safety are amongst Saint-Gobain’s top priorities for sustainable habitat and, whilst always at the forefront of business objectives and implemented in plants across the world, a day was dedicated to building employee knowledge and skills in future-proofing our role in sustainability.

“We strive towards a motivating, safe and healthy working environment” states Safety Co-ordinator Karin van Veen. Karin, whose goal at Saint-Gobain Abrasives in Eibergen, is to optimise safety within the plant, but also focus on sustainable production.
“We are currently working towards the ideal situation of zero (environmental) accidents, no occupational diseases and no waste of energy or raw materials”.
EHS Day at Saint-Gobain

 

SAFETY FROM DAY ONE

As Safety Coordinator, Karin is conscious of the dangers and risks which employees, visitors and contractors are exposed to. “To protect our employees and the environment, we create an inventory of all risks before we analyse and reduce them”.

The current introduction program in Eibergen for new employees and flexible workers can be seen as a successful innovation. “Since the beginning of this year we started with this introduction programme. New employees and flexible workers study the safety film, wear a recognisable green T-shirt, attend at least two safety training programmes and are being interviewed using a SMAT (Safety Management Audit Tool). This tool tests if employees have enough knowledge of the safety rules”. 
As a result, a decrease in the amount of accidents amongst new employees in the plant is visible in Eibergen. “After successfully completing the programme, new employees exchange their green shirts for a standard working T-shirt” Karin speaks. “All these actions contribute to higher safety consciousness for employees. An example is the training programme ‘Hand and Finger’, which is completed with a score of 9 out of 10 (or higher) by 82 percent of the employees”.
IMAGE: Rositha Bartelds, a proud flexible worker, receives a standard colour working T-shirt after successfully completing the introduction program.
Rositha Bartelds has completed her safety training