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The Safety Culture Steering Committee
The Safety Culture responsibility at Heritage falls within the portfolio of the Operational HSSE Manager, Mr. Osei Flemming-Holder who reports to the HSSE Leader, Mr. Wendell Seecharan. During the month of October 2021, the first Safety Culture meeting was convened, and key personnel were selected based on their core competencies to form the Safety Culture Steering Committee ('the Team').
THE TEAM COMPRISED:
• Osei Flemming-Holder – Operational
HSSE Manager (Chairman of the
Committee) • Shyam Dyal – CCMER Manager • Devon Sooknanan – Contractor Safety
Management Advisor • Saul Bhagwandeen – HSSE Team Lead -
Offshore
• Perry Jagdeo – HSSE Team Lead - Land • Jens Sastoo – HSSE Team Lead -
Midstream & Business Development • Dr. Lisa Mohammed – Landman The overall objective of the Team is to develop and implement strategies which will be used as a journey of transformation to foster Safety Culture Excellence within our operations. Safety Culture Excellence can be defined as:
A set of capabilities that enable continuous improvement in safety performance and create a chemistry and climate in which such improvement is nurtured and encouraged.
This journey would take Heritage to a position where safety is key and is fully integrated into our work. The ultimate objective is goal zero – zero accidents. This intent is in line with the Team’s mantra that Safety Always Fosters Excellence.
What was achieved thus far?
Since the establishment of the Team in October 2021, there have been several brainstorming exercises which resulted in knowledge sharing and the eventual development of the Safety Excellence Roadmap 2022. The aim of this roadmap is to identify the key activities that will be conducted with the intent of fostering a positive Safety Culture at Heritage.
THE KEY ELEMENTS OF THE ROADMAP INCLUDE: • Set up Safety Excellence Team (Cross-Functional
Team) • Conduct Hazard Identification and Task Based Risk Assessment (HITRA) Training for all Heritage Employees and Contractors • Onboarding and Training of Safety Champions • Develop and Roll Out Safety Climate Survey • Enhanced Implementation of the Behaviour-
Based Safety Observation Programme • Sharing of Lessons Learned • Implement and enforce the Intervention
Programme • Collaboration between HSSE Committees and
Safety Culture Steering Committee • Develop, implement and enforce a Housekeeping
Programme • Enhanced Leadership Tours • Develop and Implement a Reward and
Recognition Programme
This roadmap was rolled out to Heritage’s Leadership over the past few months and was widely accepted. Once the team received buy-in from the Leadership, planning continued for the implementation of key roadmap activities.
To date, the Team has achieved the following critical milestones:
• Communication of the Heritage Safety
Culture Transformation Roadmap: Contractor
Engagement Sessions
• Four in-person sessions were held with over 100 contractor companies at Pointe-aPierre Club Ballroom on May 24th & 25th 2022 • Soft Launch of Safety Climate Survey - Attendees at the contractor sessions were engaged to participate in the survey • Engagement of Heritage’s Safety Champions - Safety Champions were nominated by managers and leaders from throughout the organisation. These Safety Champions would play a critical role in assisting the team in the implementation and monitoring of the roadmap activities.
Importance of safety culture and why it's a priority
Operating in a safe manner is not achieved through luck and chance. It is achieved through strategic planning, risk reduction and self-verification, which involves legislative and operational requirements as well as the safety culture of the organisation.
Safety Culture evolves through the safety climate of the organisation, which includes the 4Cs, namely Commitment, Caring, Cooperation and Coaching embedded in an environment of trust between Leadership and the general workforce.
The Safety Culture at Heritage can have a significant impact on the way in which work is conducted within our operations. A positive safety culture, with buyin by all stakeholders, including employees, would result in persons conducting work where personal responsibility is taken for personal safety and that of others, even when no one is looking. An adverse event can have disastrous effects on an organisation especially so for Heritage. It would impact our ability to contribute financially to the GDP of T&T, adversely impact employee morale, impair our international reputation and corporate image as well as adversely impact the perceptions of our business partners and investors. A positive safety culture that is nurtured, rewarded and recognised would get us to a point of safety excellence and goal zero.
What employees can look forward to
Following what has already been achieved, the immediate plans for the Team include the following: • Official Launch of the Safety Climate Survey - The survey is to be launched to all Heritage and Contractor personnel who conduct work within Heritage’s operations – Coming Soon! • Additional Heritage Safety Culture
Transformation sessions: Heritage personnel - Utilise a similar model and format to that used for the contractor in-person session to engage with specific Heritage groups, such as middle management, HSSE and operations • Onboarding of the Safety Champions • Marketing and visibility of the Safety Culture initiative • Commencement and continuation of relevant training • Greater collaboration with all stakeholders especially the contractor personnel who can impact our HSSE performance and our Safety
Excellence journey