Believe campaign for Watson Street

02 September 2008
Every one of Watson Street's 160 employees has been set a personal safety target as part of a new BELIEVE Health & Safety campaign.

Each department has set out an action plan and within that, individual tasks range from straightforward good housekeeping action around their workspace to more long- term projects such as risk assessments and safety audits.
"The aim is to make every employee aware that they are part of the safety structure," said former general manager George Boot. "We want to change people's behaviour and attitudes to safety and the way they deal with safety at work."
The BELIEVE campaign title stands for Behavioural safety, Employee involvement and Level systems of review and evaluation; followed by Individual targets resulting in raised Expectations; leading to Value of ownership and key safe behaviours. "The key safe behaviours underpin the whole structure of the campaign," said George.
Believe has been launched a year after Watson Street's 1664-day safety record was abruptly ended by two serious accidents within a month. "Both were down to a moment's inattention," said George.
"In each case a key safe behaviour was ignored - one, to isolate a piece of machinery before working on it and two, to be aware of pedestrian and vehicle danger zones.
"When people know their workplace like the back of their hand and could perform many of the tasks blindfold, it is difficult to convince them to take constant care.
"But that is what we must do. Most of us can remember the days when there was just one safety officer on site and every safety issue was channelled through that single person. Well, we want 160 safety officers at Watson Street."