The American Chemistry Council (ACC) honors BASF Corporation with its 2017 Responsible Care Initiative of the Year Award in recognition of the company’s customized environmental, health and safety (EHS) culture change program, the Exposure Reduction Process (ERP).
“BASF’s commitment to employee health, safety and security is clearly an integral part of how it does business and it is evident in the company’s performance over the past four years,” says ACC President and CEO Cal Dooley. “We are pleased to recognize BASF as a leader in behavior-based safety and driving a culture of continuous improvement in the safe management of its products and operations through Responsible Care.”
ERP drives culture change through leadership development and employee engagement, enabling BASF facilities to shift focus “upstream,” before an incident or injury occurs, to influence at-risk behaviors or unsafe conditions.
With a focus on the cultural factors that contribute to EHS performance, the Exposure Reduction Process consists of three primary strategies that align with BASF’s Journey to EHS Excellence:
- Mapping the Journey: The facility conducts a quantitative and qualitative assessment to measure its EHS culture. Site-specific action plans are then developed to drive continuous improvements.
- Leading the Journey: Supervisors are evaluated using a safety leadership diagnostic tool, including 360-degree feedback. This helps leaders understand their safety leadership contributions and be coached to adjust their behavior so that they can effectively serve as role models for culture change within the organization.
- Living the Journey: Employees are trained and coached on how to conduct peer-to-peer observations, provide feedback and receive feedback from others. Employees also learn how to use behavioral observation data to identify and remove barriers, potentially preventing future incidents.
The Initiative of the Year is selected by attendees at the ACC’s annual Responsible Care Conference, who have an opportunity to review submissions from four different companies and talk to company representatives on-site at the event.
For more information, visit: www.americanchemistry.com/rc
