Greece, Greek

The company undertook a three-year safety programme entitled ‘Cooperation for Safety’, with the aim of improving management skills and the behaviour of managers, supervisors and employees. ‘Supervising for Safety’ workshops were held in 2009 and 2010 for managers, supervisors and shift leaders. The workshops taught them how to motivate workers by supporting and rewarding safe behaviours, as well as how to handle safety violations in a positive way by changing behaviour as a result of persuasion. At the end of 2010, safety visits were started. The visits were undertaken by directors, heads of department or engineers. Every production or storage area was visited once a week. Those undertaking the safety visit observed the workplace and then discussed with the workers any unsafe practices and ways to correct them. Good safety practices were praised. In September 2011, regular discussions of unsafe situations commenced, involving unit operators, maintenance technicians, personnel working in new projects and office employees. The participants were asked to identify risks and their potential consequences, and to propose measures to offset them. Pictures of the participants’ workplaces were used to increase relevance. Any successful safety intervention by an employee was showcased and rewarded with prizes. All employees were thus incentivised to intervene if they observed unsafe situations. A booklet containing general safety rules was also distributed to all employees and contractors. Illustrating ten life-saving rules through pictograms, the booklet aimed to remind employees that they should intervene immediately if they noticed any of the rules being violated. This project was commended for the Good Practice Award 2013 of The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).

Level of Education: Continuing vocational education and training

Lead Organisation: Hellenic Petroleum S.A

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