Blog post: Forth Ports Stand down for Safety

PSS CEO Debbie Cavaldoro was delighted to be invited to take part in Forth Port’s “Stand Down for Safety” day on the last day of April.

During the event, all operations stop for one hour and the time is used to bring all staff together to discuss improvements that have been made, and could still be implemented, to make the port and its people safer. To ensure that all staff take part, the event takes place three times across the day and covers every Forth Ports location, all linked together by video.

A mix of live interviews with senior managers, videos from staff, and live Q&A sessions ensure that all staff have the chance to be involved and give a real “one team” feel, despite the time and location differences.

This year’s event took the theme of “Work safe, home safe, every day”, and called on staff to carry this message with them. Group health and safety employee engagement manager, Steve Marchant, said that it wasn’t enough to just have the safety message as a mantra; people had to take the message into their hearts. He called on the audiences to carry a commitment to safety with them at all times for the sake of themselves, their colleagues and their friends and family – all of whom are affected when an accident occurs at work.

It was a bittersweet event for outgoing CEO Charles Hammond, who is due to retire in the summer. He reflected on his experience of more than 30 years at Forth Ports, noting that the safety processes and the way staff were treated when he started, are totally unrecognisable from the practices in the ports today.

This is an excellent initiative that really demonstrates visible felt leadership in safety. Attending member events such as this, really provide PSS with an excellent insight into safety management “on the ground” and we are always happy to support any such events that members are hosting.