Creating a world record safety culture on a complex, large-scale construction project
The immense Habshan 5 Process Plant Project completed on time and with extraordinary safety, quality, and production success
100M
worker hours without a LTI
Challenge
The Habshan 5 Process Plant Project was one of four packages that formed the Integrated Gas Development (IGD) scheme of GASCO, a subsidiary of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. To oversee the project, which was largest within the Abu Dhabi gas industry at the time, GASCO commissioned the joint venture of JGC Corporation and Tecnimont. With a peak workforce of 25,000 individuals representing 35 nationalities on site, creating a high-performing safety culture was extremely challenging, requiring an innovative approach.
Solution
At the outset of the IIF engagement, it was clear that, to reach the goals, the entire project would need to embrace leadership’s commitment to safety and that this required a shift in cultural norms and thinking. To bring about this change, JMJ and the project’s leadership:
- Formed the IIF leadership team (IIF LT), comprising decision makers from all the major stakeholders, to drive the safety agenda
- IIF LT created its own vision document for a project where effective collaboration and commitment would unite everyone as a single, safety conscious team
- JMJ facilitated commitment and alignment workshops that helped rally senior management across all organizations and disciplines behind the shared goal of ensuring the safety of everyone on the project
As communication and alignment improved, leaders learned to view ‘issues’ as ‘challenges’ that required them to learn their way together. The IIF message was disseminated across the project emphasizing the collective commitment to safety.
Client Goals
- Create a project culture where there would be no injuries or incidents
- Transform the way the overall workforce viewed safety
- Develop a working environment on the project that allowed for open and honest communication ensuring safety concerns are readily shared and addressed
- Ensure everyone involved in the project shares a commitment to Incident and Injury-Free™ (IIF™)
- Make senior leadership the driving force behind an authentic, aligned IIF culture
- Empower individuals to be responsible for their own safety, that of others around them, and the overall safety performance of the project
We made sure that leaders were on the site daily talking with the workers to make sure that they knew that safety was about everybody.
The numbers were very important, but we cared about people going home safely. Going home safely was the real target.
Results
Despite its vast scale, the project recorded a world record by surpassing 100M worker hours without a Lost Time Incident (LTI). The project not only exceeded its targets for Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) and Total Recordable Injuries Rate (TRIR), but also saw an 85% drop in absenteeism. As a result, the project was completed on schedule, leading to significant revenue savings when compared with other projects of this size that experienced delays.
Key takeaways
- No matter how large or complex the project, it is possible to create and embed a safety culture
- Making safety a priority is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do
- An authentic commitment from leadership is the foundation of a successful culture transformation
Record-breaking performance
100M worker hours without Lost Time Incident
Absenteeism reduction
An impressive 85% drop in absences
Safety targets exceeded
LTIFR and TRIR rates exceeded project targets