Special Topics in Safety Management

What Does It Take to Be an Award-Winning Safety Team?

Time is running short to nominate your company in our latest round of Safety Standout Awards. Does your organization have what it takes to be recognized as a safety leader, especially when it comes to having a high-performing safety culture? Take a look at what some previous award winners have in common.

Gary LoPiccolo accepts the Best Overall Safety Program award on behalf Dynamic Energy Services International (DYNESI) from SafeStart’s Tim Page-Bottorff.

The EHS Daily Advisor Safety Standout Awards recognize companies and safety professionals who excel in making their workplaces safe. When we look at the organizations that took home prizes during Round 1 of awards, it was obvious that they all shared a genuine passion, enthusiasm, and commitment to the safety of their employees and a healthy respect for the importance of safety culture.

Editor’s Note: Round 2 of the awards is open now, but the deadline is approaching fast—July 1. There is no cost to submit an application! Enter here.

Best Safety Program and Training Innovations

For our Best Overall Safety Program award, we were very happy to recognize Dynamic Energy Services International. Our awards selection board was extremely impressed with every aspect of Dynamic’s program, from the mission statement to the extremely detailed and comprehensive written programs to the level of front-line employee and supervisor involvement. There was clear investment of company leadership in exceptional safety performance as well! Working in a high-hazard industry, Dynamic has demonstrated a strong commitment to continuous improvement and a recognition that a culture of safety is its own reward.

As Dynamic stated in their application, “SH&E is a core business value for our organization and our employees. Our organization believes SH&E performance goes beyond the numbers.” Although, as they wrote, “Our ultimate recognition is received each time our employees arrive home safety,” we were excited to recognize Dynamic with this honor. Accepting the award for Dynamic was Gary LoPiccolo, Vice President of SH&E for Dynamic Energy Services International.

Representatives of Ingalls Shipbuilding pose with their Innovations in Safety Training Safety Standout Award at the Dinner with Sharks networking event.

Our Innovations in Training Award went to Ingalls Shipbuilding. Ingalls developed a new training program in 2015 designed to close the safety-related skills gap for a generation of new hires and recruits with little heavy industry experience. The Situation Perception and Condition Evaluation Simulator, or “SPACES” program, uses a combination of hands-on learning techniques in a mockup unit with ten assessment stations designed to teach participants to safely perform job-related skills, improve situational awareness, and recognize hazards in the work environment.

Since implementing the program, employees have experienced more than a 50% reduction in injuries, and the U.S. Navy actually hired Ingalls to conduct SPACES training for its precombat personnel. Accepting the award for Ingalls Shipbuilding were Chris Buzbee, System Safety Engineer with Ingalls, and Preston Bosarge, Product Trainer with Ingalls.

Even more congratulations are in order for Ingalls’s SPACES program—since winning a Safety Standout Award, the program has also won the Innovations in Safety Management Award from the American Society of Safety Professionals!

Round 2 Is All About Culture! Could Your Company Be Next?

For our current round of Safety Standout Awards, we are looking for the best of the best when it comes to safety culture. Appropriately enough, winners will receive plaques at the award winners’ reception at the Safety Culture 2018 event in Atlanta, Georgia, September 12–14, 2018. Winners will also be featured on the EHS Daily Advisor website, in a press release, and in a feature article; receive one (1) complimentary conference registration (a $799 value); and receive a deep discount on registration for additional conference attendees from your company.

If your organization has a strong commitment to a culture of safety like Dynamic and Ingalls do, your efforts deserve to be recognized! Applications are now being accepted for nominations in the following categories:

  • Best Overall Safety Culture
  • Moving Beyond Compliance Award
  • Exceptional Progress Award
  • Best Safety Committee

There is no submission fee, but time is running out to apply—applications must be submitted no later than July 1, 2018.

See full submission guidelines and policy here. Apply today … we look forward to learning about your accomplishments!

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