In a bustling industrial landscape where plants operate around the clock, a deep commitment to health and safety should be etched into the very fabric of any modern company. My company recently achieved ISO 45001 for seven of our Air Separation Units (ASUs) – this is the international standard for management systems of occupational health and safety (OHS). The experience underscored the critical importance of plant managers, operators, and engineers in informing and supporting a robust and longterm approach to OHS. It became clear once again that in addition to tightening our procedures, working towards the standard also needed a strategic plan and a communications push right from the very top to bring all our teams on board and get them thinking not just about the what but the why. Put simply, high standards of OHS are crucial for commercial success. A company’s clean bill of health on safety attracts and retains skilled staff as well as discerning clients, which protects the bottom-line as well as the reputation of the company. Rather than it being extra work, we had to show the operators that keeping the plants running goes hand in hand with robust OHS – one complements the other. Instead of imposing more procedures and processes, we encouraged the plant managers to share their experience, obstacles and pain points with us so we could resolve them together. This consultation and dialogue and coming together to find workable solutions was key to successfully achieving the certification at all seven of our Air Separation Units (ASUs) in one go – no mean feat. Commitment from senior leadership was another crucial component of ingraining the message of safety-first. Air Products’ management team put its weight behind the ISO 45001 process. They attended the opening and closing meetings with the ISO 45001 assessor in person, signalling the serious]ness with which the company views standards, procedures and ultimately, safety. With buy-in from both on-site teams and the senior leadership team, it was then a matter of making sure the safety and quality procedures were easy to follow and accessible, so they are not a burden on anyone’s time. For example, we saved the generic procedures and risk assessments across all sites in one place – an easy to access shared site – to standardise these processes and ensure ease of access and use. Another lesson learnt was that when it comes to safety, small changes can have big impacts. For instance, often in this industry, women end up having to wear men’s safety clothing, rolling up the trouser legs and arms to try and get it to 36 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk August/September 2023 Handling & Safety Matters Focus on: Heath & Safety Having recently achieved the ISO 45001 certification for Air Products, Rachel Rawlings*, talks about why plant operators and engineers are central to the success of occupational health and safety initiatives. Want a safer workplace? Then show the value
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