About a year and a half ago, several GUC employees gathered in focus groups and generously shared their thoughts and opinions about our safety programs. The Corporate Safety Initiative (CSI) Steering Committee (now the CSI Executive Team) heard you and made changes based on what was said.

First, they reorganized the way our safety program is set up and run (governance) through CSI teams. The change better defines the roles of those teams. Now each employee has access to and is part of the process.

Second, the CSI Program Team members (representatives of each department) are holding regular departmental team meetings to allow for better communication between employees and the governance teams. By working together, ten CSI projects have been completed and 76 exposures were identified and controlled, above and beyond those identified through safety contacts and Lighthouse observations.

Next, the Program Team pulled together the information being gathered through job safety briefings (JSBs), safety contacts, Lighthouse observations, and department CSI teams. That data helps the Executive and Program Teams identify trends and leverage cross-departmental teams to come up with solutions to existing and potential exposures. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are being monitored for incidents with serious injury and fatality potential, recordable injuries, exposure alignment between processes, and coaching.

Goals for safety contacts, JSBs, and coaching have been revised to eliminate duplications and make conversations about safety more meaningful. Ways to control or reduce several exposures are being worked on such as lone workers, active shooter, and traffic situations.

To wrap up the year, the CSI Executive Team revisited the vision statement to make sure it still made sense. They realized that it was too broad and spoke to how to achieve the vision as well. To simplify and clarify things, they created a safety mission statement in addition to our safety vision statement.

Greenville Utilities’ Safety Vision
Together, we can manage exposures to make zero injuries a reality each day.

Greenville Utilities’ Safety Mission Statement
Every member of the GUC team is empowered and expected to protect themselves and others from exposure to hazards.

The CSI Executive Team believes that with input from each employee, we are making solid progress in building a better safety program for all. There is still room for improvement. Here’s what is in store for 2023:

• All-employee safety survey
• Coaching and feedback training for leaders
• Lighthouse process advances that include reinvigorating the Lighthouse “brand”; re-engaging observers by checking in and coaching, getting those being observed more involved, and communicating at-risk exposures found through observations to the CSI teams.

Also, during our conversations together, we each need to take every opportunity to ask:

• How do these exposures apply to our work teams?
• What are we doing, on each job, to control these exposures?
• Is what we’re doing enough?

If you have concerns about your safety or the safety of others at GUC, please say something. If you are not enabled to control the exposure, let your Program Team member know. Don’t know who your Program Team member is? Ask a coworker or your supervisor.

Our Executive Team remains committed to supporting employee involvement in the CSI processes as together we work to make zero injuries a reality, each day.