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By Erin Williamson, CRSP, HSE Manager, Scovan

How do we forge and measure a successful safety management system? How do we set organizations up for success today and for years to come? Where do we place focus and what systems or processes need to underpin our safety programs?

Health and safety management systems are one of the key cornerstones for any successful business and are also a part of Scovan’s Environmental, Social and Governance Strategy. We must regularly examine our systems to identify opportunities for improvement as we work to construct successful programs for the years to come. This means involving our workers, subcontractors, and key stakeholders. We are reminded of this every time there is news of a major incident in any industry. Too many workers’ lives have been altered or lost due to incidents, and Scovan’s first priority is to protect its staff. We manage our health and safety systems by creating directives that meet and exceed legislation and working with our employees to ensure that practices and procedures are useful, applicable, accurate and ongoing. Scovan’s process involves:

1. Fostering an open and supportive dialogue. 

2. Creating systems for collaborative communication, ongoing improvement and preventative measures. 

3. Adhering to and surpassing legislation. 

4. Benchmarking against the industry. 

5. Analyzing results and optimizing current processes.

The foundation of Scovan’s health and safety management system is worker empowerment and engagement through a psychologically safe method. One of our core values at Scovan is “Disruption for the Better”, and in our health and safety management system, this means empowering our workers to challenge leaders and ensure that any risk is addressed before moving forward. Employees must know they can express their concerns without fear of negative repercussions of self image, status or career in order to do their job safely. By following this philosophy, our engagement and productivity have improved company-wide. Our workers have the ability to speak up and make informed decisions about their safety and the safety of others. Analysis of Scovan’s Health, Safety and Environment metrics demonstrate that the psychologically safe method is working to reduce overall incidents across the organization.

Scovan has a diverse group of employees that come from various backgrounds. As Scovan offers full EPFC services, we have a number of roles within the company including engineers, office workers, fabrication and field teams. Scovan’s fabrication and field teams are no stranger to health and safety systems. To drive change within our engineering teams, Scovan conducts regular visits for our Calgary office personal to our fabrication facility in Ponoka, Alberta. These visits not only allow the team to truly understand some of the inherent challenges and risks that our fabrication teams are exposed to, but also allows our engineers to see firsthand what their drawings look like once they’re completed to the module phase. We pair strategies like this with weekly analyses, monthly reporting, and recognition programs that help us to place the focus on preventing risks before they have a chance to affect our teams. Researching and benchmarking against other industry leaders and learning from competitor challenges also contributes to the process of understanding what our company needs to do to keep everyone headed home healthy and safe at the end of the day. 

At Scovan, focusing on the mental health of our team and systems that support open dialogue and continuous improvement allow us to achieve our zero incident targets. We are collaboratively working towards a safe and healthy future.

Originally published in Scovan’s IGNITE Vol. 5