Helping Seaway Heavy Lifting enhance its safety culture, making an already good safety program better
Leadership at a tier-two energy company overcame doubts to become Incident and Injury-Free™ (IIF™) safety champions
31
months without a Lost Time Incident
Challenge
Netherlands based Seaway Heavy Lifting (SHL) is an independent offshore contractor with experience in the transport, installation and removal of offshore oil and gas platforms, subsea structures, and the installation of wind turbine foundations. The company operates two large crane vessels.
JMJ’s relationship with Seaway began when a contract they signed with a major energy company mandated Incident and Injury-Free™ (IIF) safety training for all SHL personnel working on the project. Managers were also required to attend an IIF Commitment Workshop™ facilitated by JMJ. Believing they already had a good safety program and fearing that the oil and gas major would impose its own safety systems on them, SHL’s leadership didn’t meet this request with enthusiasm. However, when the COO reluctantly attended the workshop, describing himself as, “a prisoner,” he was surprised to learn that, rather than a set of rules, IIF was about leadership, relationships, and personal commitment. By the end of day one, he was an IIF champion!
Solution
After the leadership workshop, SHL agreed to implement IIF across the organization. With lifting operations and suspended loads always in the top 10 identified safety risks, Seaway’s goal was to enhance its organizational performance and safety culture and create an Incident and Injury-Free™ (IIF™) working environment. This meant personnel onboard the vessels, in their offices, and subcontractors were all required to attend JMJ’s IIF workshops and orientation. This policy met with some initial resistance. Leadership’s own visible commitment to safety played a big part in breaking down this skepticism and convincing people that they were prepared to walk the walk. Today, SHL has its own employees as IIF trainers. Training extends to every new employee, every subcontractor that comes on board a vessel and even clients if they come on board.
The most difficult part for me came when I had to make decisions. I realized IIF is about the tough decisions. That was when I noticed I was being tested by the people in the organization. How serious I am about IIF? I have to show commitment and show that I am very, very serious about this. I have to be a role model because if I let something slip; say I went on board a vessel and didn’t wear a safety helmet; the next day, half the people won’t wear their safety helmets anymore.
What I’ve seen happening over time is that the leadership has shifted away from me. The leadership team has become the project team and the people on the vessels. They know they have my full support and I count on them making those decisions themselves.
It took a lot of energy to implement IIF, but it was not actually too difficult because it makes sense to most people.
Results
People at every level across the organization are aligned with leadership’s commitment to make SHL a safe place to work, despite the challenging conditions they are often confronted with. The safety transformation strengthened the company’s position in the market and enhanced its reputation for being reliable, efficient, and always putting safety first. Employee engagement with safety has been measured extremely high compared to other organizations both in and outside the industry, and safety statistics have improved. Incident and Injury-Free is now an integrated part of the organization.
Key takeaways
- Even in a high performance safety organization, it’s still possible to make measurable improvements
- Leadership is not a position, it’s a mindset that is developed over time
- Embedding an IIF safety culture is not only the right thing to do, it’s also the smart thing for your business
78% improvement
In lost time injury frequency rate, from 0.9 to 0.2
78% reduction
In high potential incidents, from 23 to less than five
74% reduction
In time to bring a well on-stream