The Linde Group is committed to safety. By employing behaviour-based work processes and visible leadership a significant reduction in the incident rate has been experienced.

Headquartered in Munich, the Linde Group is a leading world supplier of industrial, medical, process and specialty gases and one of the most profitable engineering companies on the planet. Its products and services can be found in nearly every industry, across more than 100 countries.

“Globally, we drive six times to the Sun and back every year. We unfortunately experience around one lorry accident per week. But focusing on driving-related behaviour is reducing our total incident rate,” says business process manager Mike Furmston.

One of the reasons for this significant decline in incidents is a commitment to safety improvement and a behavioural approach to minimising risk in the organisation. That implies changing cultures, and goes right to the heart of core values and attitudes among employees.

“A safety measure in itself can sometimes lead to unwanted behaviour,” explains Ingrid Tamm, Synergi Administrator for AGA REN in the Linde Group. “People can get very stubborn when faced with an order or safety instruction they don’t understand. The behavioural approach entails using the management as visible role models to inspire safe behavior. It is a simple principle: lead by example.”

Synergi’s behaviour-based safety (BBS) management module provides a powerful tool for implementing and supporting this approach to reducing risk.

“The module gives us the feedback we need both to uncover problem areas and to supply facts and statistics in order to convince management and workers that a behavioural change is necessary. Safety issues always have to be implemented at the top level and trickle down in the organisation,” concludes Tamm.

Author: Lene Rustad
Photo: The Linde Group, Nana Reimers