General Safety Standstill mobilizes OEC’s worksites and offices

On October 14th, more than 13,000 OEC members in the Americas and Africa simultaneously stopped their activities for about 20 minutes to respond to a call from LN Maurício Cruz and ESG Director Alexandre Baltar, in a moment exclusively dedicated to safety.

During the General Safety Standstill, all workers, whether in worksites or offices, were prompted to reflect on the prevention of workplace accidents.

Each environment organized its own standstill, calling the entire local workforce for an open dialogue about safety, reinforcing the importance of respecting norms, attention, and care, so that risky situations can be prevented and avoided.

The vigilance and attitude of each member are important to ensure a safe and healthy environment. Safety is everyone’s responsibility. Each individual must not only take care of their own safety with absolute discipline and respect for norms and procedures but also act as a safety agent, observing and alerting other members when they identify risky conditions.

The success of our task depends on the effectiveness of the measures adopted to protect the people who work and interact with our operations. It is the absolute respect for this principle that ensures safe work – a universal human right, and includes the health and safety of people at the center of our decisions.

According to Adelmo Pereira, SSTMA Manager in Rio de Janeiro, the mobilization of all contracts was crucial to reinforce our commitment to Occupational Safety and the preservation of life in our Projects. “The engagement of leaders was inspiring and the adherence of members exceeded expectations. Seeing everyone so involved and dedicated to this cause shows us that we are on the right path. Safety is everyone’s responsibility, and this union strengthens our work environment. It is essential that we continue to cultivate this preventive and proactive spirit regarding safety,” he evaluates.

Julio Cezar Duarte, Sustainability Manager at TOBD, said that the Safety Standstill was very important for the project. “In the General Standstill, we reinforced the importance of not letting our guard down and being more alert every day. We focused on mutual care and the importance of faithfully following procedures. We had positive feedback and hope that everyone continues to focus on carrying out activities without incidents,” he states.

José Vinicius Vieira, SSTMA Manager of Industrial Plants, evaluates that this was a moment of utmost importance, especially for valuing the lives of our members, reaffirming that no work is so urgent or so important that it cannot be planned and executed safely. “The engagement of senior leadership demonstrated the commitment to this noble mission of valuing life. This mobilization was a milestone in the company’s history, where all members of contracts in Brazil and abroad were involved and committed.”

Congratulations to all Leaders who promoted strong team engagement at this moment of great relevance to our operations.

Check out the main messages brought during the General Standstill:

• Our engineering planning is fundamental to eliminate operational risks as much as possible. It is in the preparation for work that we identify, evaluate, and address hazards and risks, and define workflows for activities, their supervision, and monitoring.
• We are more effective by training all people, maintaining active and permanent dialogue, and highlighting the value of everyone’s participation, whether in direct contact between leaders and teams, in internal Accident Prevention Commissions, and other collective actions on this theme.
• Tasks must be executed as instructed in the work instructions and the imposed restrictions and required controls must be respected, especially in risky work. Likewise, we must observe access restrictions, operate in authorized areas, and move along safe paths, with the means and speeds appropriate to each terrain. We must segregate vehicles, machines, people, respect and care for signage and collective protections, and pay special attention to compliance and safety on routes outside the worksite.
• We must use personal protective equipment completely, correctly, and permanently, and it is necessary to observe its use by colleagues and instruct when corrections are needed.
• It is necessary to pay attention to the conditions of use and operation of tools, machines, and equipment, and during the task, ensure the safe handling of these resources.
• We all must work safely and if we do not feel safe, we have the right to refuse to perform the task until adequate conditions are provided.
• We must remain alert to identify safety deviations – conditions where failures in our structures, work processes, and individual behaviors imply or aggravate the risk of accidents, and commit to their registration and correction.
• We do not tolerate and do not allow the concealment of any deviation or accident.
• Collaborating in the processes of investigation, treatment, and correction of the causes of recorded accidents, and incorporating the lessons learned from these events into our conduct are non-negotiable tasks.

See below some records of this action that mobilized the entire company:

Click here to access the materials used