On 24 July, Francesco Marella, our Head of ESH, had the opportunity to speak at Palazzo Giustiniani, the seat of the Presidency of the Senate of the Italian Republic, about how awareness and training can help achieve the goal of zero accidents (in the sense of both work accidents and environmental accidents).
The conference, entitled ‘Safety at Work: Innovation and Integration of Key Areas’, was organised by Senator Antonio Trevisi.
But shouldn’t the Senate be talking about legislation? Of course! But those who work in safety know that the law is a necessary but not sufficient condition for zero accidents. And this is precisely what our Francesco spoke about! Let us better understand together the crux of his speech.
One only has to analyse any accident to understand the importance of the human factor. How many road accidents happen because of a missed coupon? And how many because of a distraction?
We have enough laws. They need to be enforced, and in any case it would still not be enough to eliminate accidents.
To do so, it is necessary to get out of the obsession with zero injuries. To think that we can change the result without changing ourselves is a mere illusion.
Think about dieting: the expected result might be to lose 2 kg.
But without really changing, the result will not only be difficult to achieve but above all impossible to maintain.
If, on the other hand, I want to change into a healthy person, in addition to dieting, I will start doing sport consistently and every decision I make will be based on my new lifestyle. That way I will achieve the result of losing weight and keeping fit!
Now, how many companies aim for zero injuries but there is never room for safety in the decisions they make? Do you think they will achieve zero injuries?
Companies that don’t want to make mistakes will make mistakes.
Companies that aim for excellence will not make mistakes.
Therefore, the corporate culture at MEHITS is based on:
- Compliance (the prerequisite)
- Improvement
- Cultural change
‘Compliance’ is the set of all basic and necessary rules for working safely, ‘improvement’ implies having clear and defined at least two projects in which we go beyond the legal obligation, projects that lead to zero risk… And respond to near misses with new projects. But the real ‘cultural change’ is achieved when managers consider safety as the value that guides every decision. Because safety is a value, not just a priority!
Francesco’s full speech is available on YouTube:
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