At Winoa, the health and safety of our employees is our absolute priority and an integral part of our Group Health & Safety Policy. Every September, we organise Health & Safety Week, an event designed to promote safe and healthy practices through a variety of initiatives and activities.
To better understand our approach to health and safety, we interviewed Alexandre Faust, Health and Safety Director of the Winoa group since 2022. Before joining our company, Alexandre gained extensive experience in the oil and gas industry, mining, glass industry, and chemical industry. He led projects focused on health, safety, environment, and quality. Discover his insights and background in this interview.
Health and Safety at Winoa
Question: Could you describe your role as the Health and Safety Director at Winoa?
Alexandre Faust: As the Health and Safety Director at Winoa, my role is to ensure a robust health and safety policy, endorsed and supported by our CEO, Ramesh Krishnan. Since 2019, we have organized a Health and Safety Week in September, with this year’s theme being “Proud to Work Safely.” The goal is to show that safety is not just about following “boring” rules, but it involves good practices and promotes well-being at work and beyond.
I am also responsible for implementing and monitoring a multi-year roadmap, adjusted based on accidents, our critical risks, and the current trends in our sector, to project our prevention efforts over the next five years. My role includes coordinating teams, analyzing results, and updating Group documentation (standards, forms, training materials). We also train our teams on tools and risk assessments for a comprehensive onboarding in health and safety.
Question: What are the main challenges you face in your daily mission?
Alexandre Faust: Working with numerous sites spread across the globe presents several challenges. One of the main ones is ensuring our health and safety messages are well understood and applied everywhere. The multicultural approach is enriching and requires adjustments for each site.
Remote management and translation into 12 different languages are also crucial to ensure that each site adopts the Health and Safety approach, regardless of the country. We strive to maintain the same level of standards everywhere, adapting our methods to leverage contributions from all our team members. We draw on this collective energy to strengthen our approach. Together, we are stronger than individually.
Opening up to the industry
Question: What is the role of health and safety in the industrial sector?
Alexandre Faust: Health and safety play a crucial role in the industrial sector. Our goal is to prevent fatal accidents and serious incidents. For us, safety means that every employee must be able to leave the site at the end of the day in the same condition as when they arrived. As a company, we have the responsibility to protect our employees and ensure they work in a safe environment.
Question: How does Winoa position itself in the sector? Are there regular external audits?
Alexandre Faust: At Winoa, we have noticed significant safety improvements over the years. However, safety is an ongoing process, and it is crucial to constantly reassess and adopt new practices. On average, we conduct about ten Corporate audits each year at our various sites worldwide to evaluate and enhance our practices.
All our plants are certified ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environment), and ISO 45001 (health and safety at work), except for our plant in the United States. In addition to external audits, I personally visit our sites to stay close to the teams, listen to their feedback, help them progress, and identify areas for improvement.
Question: Are there best practices from other industries that we can draw inspiration from?
Alexandre Faust: In health and safety, sharing best practices is crucial. We can look to companies known for excellence in metallurgy, oil and gas, mining, or aerospace. Working with consultants can also help us identify additional ways to better train our employees to work safely and protect their health.
We regularly conduct brainstorming sessions with our health and safety coordinators to find innovative solutions, as safety is not an exact science. We have implemented tools that encourage employees to take the time to analyze the situation before acting, much like a pilot’s checklist before each flight.
We participate in French trade shows like Préventica and Expo Protection to identify best practices and new trends, and we are considering attending international shows. Our main challenge is to change behaviors, using psychological techniques to encourage people to work safely. I am starting to be inspired by the Nudge method, which uses playful and indirect techniques to promote safe behavior.
Spotlight on Health and Safety Week 2024
Question: What are the main highlights of the Health and Safety Week scheduled for September 2024?
Alexandre Faust: For the September 2024 Health and Safety Week, we have chosen a more compact format, spanning one or two days. This year’s theme is “Proud to Work Safely,” focusing on two main areas: strengthening the Health and Safety culture and raising awareness of psychosocial risks. These themes will be explored through various interactive workshops and games designed to engage our staff in a fun and meaningful way. We will also take this opportunity to present our “5 for Safety,” the safety fundamentals at WINOA.
Question: Can you provide examples of specific activities or programs that will be implemented across the different entities?
Alexandre Faust: Each site will organize its own workshops based on our theme, ranging from fire extinguisher training to cooking classes, as well as games or more formal awareness sessions, for example. This year, we have also developed the game “Together We Work Safer” with an external consultant, OPTIM RESSOURCES. This game will be used to encourage active participation from our employees while reinforcing safety principles. We will also use our online training platform, WINOA ACADEMY, along with in-person training sessions to address psychosocial risks.
Question: What are the main objectives of this initiative?
Alexandre Faust: The primary goal of Safety Health Week is to strengthen our year-round commitment to health and safety. Although this week is a significant event, our dedication extends beyond this period. We aim to involve all WINOA sites, including commercial locations, by encouraging them to create best practice videos and share their safety experiences.
This initiative fosters a positive and engaging dynamic, promoting active participation from our staff over several months. Additionally, we want our employees to enjoy participating in these activities and feel appreciated for their commitment to safety.
The Safety Initiatives and Safety Culture at Winoa
Question: Can you tell us about the safety initiatives or programs you have implemented at Winoa?
Alexandre Faust: We have initiated a Health Safety Culture program with a multi-year roadmap based on the Bradley Curve. We have enhanced the induction process for newcomers and visitors, as well as the onboarding of our Health Safety dedicated people. We regularly conduct training on Health Safety Culture and frequently communicate on these topics.
Regular site visits are crucial for team training and conducting audits. Our key event is the annual Health Safety Week, a significant moment to raise awareness. Sharing best practices between sites is also a cornerstone of our strategy.
Question: How have these initiatives improved workplace safety for employees?
Alexandre Faust: Thanks to these initiatives, we are seeing a significant improvement in our safety performance. The staff is increasingly adopting the approach and the tools implemented, resulting in a continuous decrease in our LTIFR (Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate). The active participation and commitment of employees are key to this success.
Question: How does Winoa integrate the health and safety culture into its daily work environment?
Alexandre Faust: Integrating the Health and Safety culture daily is more than just a routine. We share health and safety messages during shift handovers and daily meetings, and ensure that management is regularly on-site to interact with teams and identify risks.
We also prioritize identifying and addressing hazardous situations to prevent severe accidents. Every two months, we review the most serious incidents with our sites to learn from them and implement corrective measures across all our locations. This proactive approach ensures a vibrant and continuously improving health and safety culture.
Perspectives and Advice for the Future of Occupational Health and Safety
Question: What advice would you give other companies to improve their own health and safety culture?
Alexandre Faust: Health and Safety are not exact sciences. Start with an assessment based on accident data, risk evaluation, site inspections, and the existing management system. Then, create a collaborative roadmap. It’s crucial to review and clarify existing processes and clearly define everyone’s responsibilities. Understand that this approach will take time to integrate into the company.
Question: What are Winoa’s future projects for health and safety?
Alexandre Faust: We still have many ideas to improve Health and Safety conditions at our sites. First, we will consolidate the tools implemented in recent years, continue Health and Safety Culture training (with a second part), and introduce new Health and Safety standards, allowing necessary time for their integration.
We will continue to encourage everyone to prioritize safety before any action. In addition, we will implement coaching training for supervisory teams on-site. Our upcoming focus areas will include confined spaces, subcontractor management, chemical risks, and the prevention of psychosocial risks over the next few years.
Conclusion
The interview with Alexandre Faust, Director of Health and Safety at the Winoa Group, highlighted key aspects of Winoa’s health and safety commitments:
- Role and Challenges: Alexandre oversees the implementation of the health and safety roadmap across global sites, contending with the challenges posed by cultural and linguistic diversity.
- Innovative Initiatives: From Health and Safety Week to regular audits and the sharing of best practices, Winoa strives to create a safer work environment each day.
- Positive Results: These efforts have led to a continuous reduction in Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR), showcasing the effectiveness of our approach.
The results in numbers also:
- Winoa Brazil: 1000 days without a lost-time injury
- Winoa Japan: over 1700 days without a lost-time injury
- Winoa France: 12 consecutive months without a lost-time injury for the first time
These figures reflect a collective commitment and rigorous practices put in place to ensure the safety of all our employees.
Closing Remarks by Alexandre Faust
“We can all be proud of the safety results we have achieved so far, with several of our sites having significant periods without a lost-time injury. Let us continue our commitment each day and take pride in working safely.”
