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Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Non peer reviewed)

Esso Australia 2013 SAFE themes

Craig Pearson A and David Robinson A
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- Author Affiliations

Esso Australia Pty Ltd.

The APPEA Journal 54(2) 505-505 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ13078
Published: 2014

Abstract

The 2012 APPEA Stand Together for Safety video used a particularly powerful message:

  1. Speak up

  2. Act mindfully

  3. Follow the rules

  4. Get engaged

This aligned with Esso’s global safety learning focus and so it has used the SAFE theme to increase its own workforce engagement. The aim of this initiative was to build and refresh skills and knowledge in the leadership and execution of personal safety expectations using our existing baseline safety tools. A planning workshop was conducted and a small cross-functional team was established to develop the SAFE theme quarterly schedule and materials. The quarterly SAFE theme builds on safety leadership behaviours through the use of existing tools:

  1. First quarter: speak up—focuses on tools for intervention such as approaching others.

  2. Second quarter: act mindfully—hazard identification including StepBack 5 × 5 and job safety analysis and risk tolerance such as 10 factors influencing risk tolerance.

  3. Third quarter: follow the rules—life saving actions including nine procedural focus areas that save lives.

  4. Fourth quarter: get engaged—in-field review such as peer-to-peer observation.

Key to the success of the initiative was the significant involvement of senior leadership and first line supervisors. This improved workforce accountability through the application, demonstration, and promotion of safety leadership values. The initiative has resulted in an improvement in our safety performance, and improved communication and alignment across our facilities.

After working in safety for 20 years, across a range of industries, Craig Pearson joined Esso Australia Pty. Ltd. in 2006. He’s held various safety roles at Esso’s Longford Plants, Long Island Point Plant and Bass Strait offshore operation. He is now the Safety Programs Advisor for Gippsland production operations. Craig has a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Hazard Management which he attained from the Victorian Institute of Occupational Safety and Health at the University of Ballarat.

David Robinson is a Mechanical Engineer who has 32 years’ experience working for ExxonMobil. The last 25 of these has been spent in many safety related roles across the Downstream and Upstream business lines. He has spent considerable time deploying and supporting behaviour based safety systems across Australia, New Zealand, and many of the company’s Asian affiliates and has seen the many benefits that come from workforce engagement of using BBS tools such as hazard identification and peer task observation. David also has significant experience in deploying Safety Management systems and spent nearly 10 years as a Global Advisor conducting assessments and training in ExxonMobil’s Operations Integrity Management System, known as OIMS.