Work Safety
Work Safety
The
Zero-Harm Mind-Set
The Lausward plant construction site showcases Siemens’
global commitment to a safe work environment. In addition
to respecting environmental as well as human resources,
this approach creates an added value for investors.
Text: Barbara Simpson Photos: Anna Schroll
B
The turbine hall under construction. Upon completion, Lausward will pocket
three world records: for highest electrical output, highest electrical generation
efficiency and highest extraction of thermal energy. In sum, the overall fuel
efficiency in the facility will rise to 85 percent.
52 Living Energy · No. 11 | December 2014
efore entering the construction
site of the new Lausward combined heat and power plant in
Düsseldorf, Germany – located less
than 5 kilometers, as the crow flies,
from the city center in the old industrial harbor on a loop of the River
Rhine – one faces a huge mirror. Today, the number displayed at the top
of this mirror is 431: the number of
days without accident on the construction site. It’s also the number of
days the Siemens-managed site has
been operating altogether. Every
worker passing the gate looks into
the mirror and reads in black letters
above head height: “YOU are responsible for work safety.” There is no
mistaking that there is a strong emphasis on communicating safety issues at Lausward.
“We want to create safety awareness
on an individual as well as a collective level,” says Katrin Weissenborn,
Environmental Health and Safety
(EHS) Manager at Siemens, who is
­responsible for maintaining the
company’s high safety standards at
power plant construction sites worldwide. “The impeccable track record
of zero incidents here at Lausward
means that EHS guidelines have become an integral component of the
work ­routine. This indicates a broad
­ nderstanding of safety issues by
u
­everyone, the Siemens crew as well as
our contractors.”
Siemens validates that understanding with its decades of experience
and competence in large-scale construction. “Our commitment to strict
standards is a hallmark of our work
worldwide,” says Weissenborn. “We
aim to implement our benchmarks in
every country we work in.”
EHS manager Katrin
Weissenborn’s goal
is to empower and
coach employees at
power plant construction sites worldwide
to take responsibility
for their own safety
and that of others.
Risk Avoidance in Four
Stages
According to the DuPont Bradley
Curve, the evolution of safety awareness can be seen as a progression
of four successive mind-sets. Each
mental advancement reduces the occurrence of accidents. First comes the
reactive stage, in which staying safe is
a matter of natural instincts and luck,
and responsibility might be delegated
to a safety officer. The second stage
introduces a set of safety regulations,
with adherence being monitored. At
this level, the perception is that safety
can be achieved if everyone follows
the rules. This mind-set is followed
by the realization that safety is a matter of individual responsibility, based
on the internalization of standards
and knowledge. A further reduction
of accidents may be ­attained if this
individual commitment is extended
to care for others, enhancing safety
awareness in teams.
Each mental transition – from r­ eaction
to dependence on to independence
and finally interdependence – requires about three years, far exceeding the typical lifetime of a construction site of two-and-a-half years. “This
is why our target can only be the transition from one mind-set to the next in
the course of a construction period,”
Weissenborn explains. Lausward is
currently on the cusp of advancing
from the dependence to the independence stage, as seen in the increasing
implementation of safety measures at
the individual level. Achieving this
transition also entails a change of
management style from supervision
to coaching. “Control will only get us
so far. F
­ urther improvement of the
safety performance can only be attained by enabling employees and by
“We aim to implement our safety
benchmarks in
every country we
work in.”
Katrin Weissenborn
coaching them to take responsibility
for their own safety and that of others,” Weissenborn adds.
EHS Improves Quality,
Timing, and Cost-Efficiency
Siemens recently launched the
­“Zero-Harm Culture” campaign at
plant construction sites worldwide,
based on the belief that every
Siemens employee and contractor
has the right to a safe work environment. Its goal of zero lost-time incidents is ambitious, yet based on
Siemens’ expertise of managing
large-scale construction sites, says
Werner Nagiller, site manager at
Lausward. “If someone asks you
whether you would rather have a job
done safe or fast, then something has
gone very, very wrong with the
­planning,” he explains. “EHS concerns are an integral part of a wellmanaged construction site and go
hand in hand with quality, timing,
and cost-efficiency. Good EHS
management definitely creates an
added value for our customers.”
The challenge remains to impress
the same high level of EHS at every
construction site, whether large or
small, in Europe or Asia. “To this end,
we try to advance the safety mindset,” says Nagiller. “We have been
setting site-specific rules and have
each contractor sign this document.
We respect our coworkers, listen to
them, and make sure they have the
right tools.” The approach works:
With a Lost-Time Accident Frequency
Rate (incidents per 100,000 man
hours) of 0.06 in power plant construction, Siemens sets the industry
benchmark.
“All workers on a Siemens site
around the world, including myself,
want to go home to their families at
night unharmed,” says Nagiller.
“That’s a universal principle that
­applies to all of us. And achieving
that standard certainly gives us a
competitive advantage.” p
Barbara Simpson, is a freelance journalist
based in Zurich, Switzerland, covering
­technology and business topics.
More pictures are featured in the
Siemens Publications App for iPad or
Android tablets at
siemens.com/publications-app
Living Energy at
Living Energy · No. 11 | December 2014 53