Page 360 - Xmo Strata - Bulletin Archive

Health, Safety & Environmental Bulletin No 158

S Martin – 15 October 2009

Talk Not Tick

Earlier this year, Shell launched a new safety initiative, “Talk not Tick”. This has been
designed to encourage all employees of Shell, and suppliers to the company, to DISCUSS
safety and not just tick boxes on compulsory paperwork.

This initiative mirrors the efforts of Xmo Strata in creating a safer working environment and
encourages employees to be proactive in the identification and control of workplace hazards.

We are making a commitment to support this initiative, both alongside and combined with, our
existing safety programme and have recorded 2,254 toolbox talks in the first 3 quarters of
2009, versus 1706 during the same period last year.

In July this year a Shell safety day was hosted at our offices in Kent. Various contractors with
whom we work closely on the contract were invited to the day which focused heavily on the
theme of “Talk not Tick”. By holding these sessions off-site, we are able to get messages
across in a much more effective way and hopefully offer a more open floor for anyone to ask
questions and contribute to the initiative.

The “Talk not Tick” initiative will now form a part of our on-going safety programme (including
our Hearts and Minds workshops and as an agenda item at site induction sessions) and will
also be expanded upon further at our health and safety day on Friday 11 December 2009.

We want safety to become an instinct not an afterthought, and believe that the way to do this
is by continually discussing, reporting and investigating potential hazards – BEFORE they end
up causing harm.

In 2007/08, statistics that are pertinent to the type of work we carry out are:

− 229 people were killed at work
− more than136,000 injuries were reported under the RIDDOR regulations
− 2,345 people reported injuries suffered from being struck by a moving vehicle
− 1,677 reported injuries after falling from a vehicle
− 626 people were injured by materials falling from a vehicle
− 10,910 people suffered MAJOR injuries from slips, trips or falls on the same level
− 4,331 people suffered MAJOR injuries as a result of handling, lifting or carrying
− 3,235 people suffered MAJOR injuries as a result of falls from height
− 34 million working days were lost in the UK (source: www.hse.gov.uk)