SGS’s annual Safety Month took place September 2016. Organized every year, Safety Month promotes safety awareness among employees.
This year’s Safety Month was designed to raise awareness of the importance of pragmatic risk assessments. Bad decisions that cause accidents, and sometimes fatalities, are usually caused by a failure to proactively consider risks. To reduce the number of serious incidents, employees were asked to take three minutes before starting any job and “Think Safety”. This means asking:
- Am I completely safe?
- Do I have proper and correct equipment?
- Do I have proper tools and training?
- Do I have proper personal protective equipment?
More than 70 activities, which emphasized the importance of assessing risks and taking control, were organized around the globe. These are just a few of them:
- SGS Taiwan employees took part in earthquake preparedness and response training given by the fire department. Employees learned how to prepare a basic disaster supply kit and how to respond safely during an earthquake.
- In France, drivers of SGS vehicles and employees who use their personal vehicles for work got to spend an hour using a driving simulator, where their reaction times and braking distances were tested. Employees learned how their driving performance was affected by distractions, bad weather and alcohol.
- As the first solar eclipse since 2001 took place during Safety Month, SGS Madagascar staff took part in a solar risk assessment.
849 employees attended 18 webinars on risk assessment, an average of 47 participants per session. One session had 126 attendees.
These activities and others, including first aid refreshers and hazard identification tasks, encouraged SGS staff to inculcate a habit of proactively assessing risk.
More facts and figures regarding SGS Safety Month will be available in our 2016 online Sustainability Report.
For further information, please contact:
Alain Denielle
Global Head of Operational Integrity
t: +41 (0) 22 739 91 66
About SGS
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 85,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,800 offices and laboratories around the world.