Veolia International Health and Safety at Work Week: "Act for a better tomorrow”

17 september 2018

From 17 to 23 September, the 4th edition of Veolia's Health and Safety at Work Week mobilizes all employees worldwide around preventing risks in the workplace.

Improving the culture of occupational risk prevention: a priority for Veolia

Driven at the highest level of the Group, Veolia's commitment to protecting the health and safety of all its employees and stakeholders is one of its key values.

'There is a very strong link between health and safety performance and operational performance,' explains Frédéric Goetz, Group Occupational Health and Safety Director. 'Risk prevention is based on everyone's day to day involvement. In fact, every employee is both an actor in and ambassador for health and safety at work.'

To achieve the 'zero accident' objective, Veolia has identified 5 levers:

♦ involve all managers ♦ improve health and safety risk management ♦ improve communication and dialogue ♦ train and involve all employees ♦ monitor and control health and safety performance.

As a result of implementing these actions, over the last 10 years the frequency of workplace accidents has continuously decreased within the Group.

Veolia confirms its desire to make further progress, especially in the following areas:

♦ Developing research and innovation in the field of health and safety to enhance Veolia's performance and attractiveness ♦ Developing the skills of managers with health and safety roles and training all employees ♦ Applying the Veolia health and safety management standard to share a universal prevention approach ♦ Applying management standards to high-risk activities ♦ Communicating about health and safety topics so that everyone is involved in both their own safety and that of the people around them ♦ Sharing good practices and preventing dangerous situations before an accident occurs ♦ Safety visits to identify strengths and areas for improvement on-site.

'My investment for tomorrow', a competition for children of employees in all countries

This year Veolia has launched a creative competition for its employees' children, entitled 'My investment for tomorrow'. The challenge was to have the children think about which health and safety heroes their parents represent. Using all their creativity, thousands of children participated in three age categories:

♦ 3-6 years: produce a T-shirt representing: 'how do my parents protect themselves at work?'

♦ 7-12 years: for the Week's poster on the theme: 'what do my parents do to work safely?'

♦ 13-17 years old: for a mascot that embodies: 'what does safety at work represent?'

The awards ceremony, held at Veolia headquarters in Aubervilliers on 3 September rewarded the 3 winners, selected by Veolia's country management and by a final Group jury. Nathan (France), Gonçalo Miguel (Portugal) and Celine (Australia) came with their parents to collect their prizes in the presence of Jean-Marie Lambert, Group Human Resources Director.

'This contest was born from my meeting with a 12-year-old girl during a discovery visit to a site: she told me: 'I want my dad to come home healthy after work,' says Frédéric Goetz.

More :

>Model occupational health and safety initiatives
>Read the interview with Frédéric Goetz, Veolia Health and Safety Director, in the Planet report (June 2018)
>Veolia's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in relation to Health and Safety