Veolia’s International Health and Safety at Work Week: all Veolia employees mobilize to improve risk perception and achieve zero accidents.

Veolia is today launching its International Health and Safety Week (14-18 September). Focused on raising risk behaviour awareness, this 6th edition opens with a campaign entitled: "What you see is not what I see".

Health and safety at work: at the heart of Veolia's commitments and organization

Veolia has made risk prevention and the health and safety of its employees an essential priority, firmly rooted in its values. Far from being a simple stance, this commitment is reflected in concrete terms within the Group: strong and visible involvement of the Executive Committee and line management, non-negotiable safety standards, dedicated training programs, shared involvement of internal and external stakeholders that incorporate the CSR commitments and the indicators found in our Purpose.

 

 

The Covid 19 pandemic: changing behaviours in the face of biological risks

With the Covid-19 health crisis, Veolia has seen on all its sites the importance and impact of clear health and safety rules that everyone shares. From the very first days and with the support of all the functional and operational departments, the crisis unit mobilized all its resources to help Veolia implement its business continuity plans in order to protect its employees against the threat posed by the pandemic. The adoption of barrier measures from the very beginning of the epidemic, then the appropriate protection of employees working in the field to ensure the maintenance of essential services, through to the reorganization of workspaces to limit the risks of spreading the epidemic when lockdown came to an end, the creation of "Nudge" communication kits to explain simply and clearly the measures to be adopted by each person to protect themselves and others… Still today, the Group continues to be fully mobilized at the highest level in the face of the persistent threat of the virus. The success of this mobilization proves that our health and safety depends on everyone's behaviours.

 

 

Campaign for the week: "What you see is not what I see."

The objective of this International Health and Safety Week is to further improve identification of hazardous situations in each work environment and implement measures to reduce these risks to an acceptable level.

This health crisis provides us with valuable examples of how we can better perceive our business risks and change our behaviours. That is why the 2020 edition of the Health and Safety at Work Week focuses on behavioural change and more specifically on improving risk perception in order to achieve zero accidents.
Antoine Frérot
Veolia Chairman and CEO

Throughout the week on all its sites, Veolia is mobilizing its managers, providing them with an activity kit to coach employees and improve their individual and collective perception of hazards in the workplace. This kit includes: a "Perception Game", consisting of a library of images and answers listing 350 hazardous situations - in the fields of municipal and industrial water, solid waste, hazardous and liquid waste, industrial services and waste, and cross-disciplinary activities; and in addition a video on the importance of perception in terms of safety, hosted by our health and safety mascot "Belive".

 

In parallel, "health and safety" workshops are being organized on the sites and in the head offices, in compliance with the new Covid 19 related health measures, focusing on the ability to identify hazards and risks in work situations. These activities are coordinated by managers with the help of the sites’ Health and Safety functions and the assistance of the Health, Safety and Working Conditions Commission members. For example: fire extinguishing, first aid, hazardous energy, high hydraulic pressure risks, ergonomics, bicycle rides, escape games, etc.

 

 

Team competition: "life-sized hazard hunt".

Starting on 13 July and running until 25 September, Veolia launched a team competition (one manager and employees) in all its business units around the world, based on the two photo principle, one showing risk situations ("before") and the other showing risk management ("after").

A selection of the best hazardous situation resolutions will be made by each zone world-wide, then sent to the Health and Safety Department at headquarters. The best proposals, evaluated by the Executive Committee, will receive their award at a trophy ceremony in mid-November.