It’s no surprise that our plant teams make safety their top priority. But as we all know, translating that goal into action isn’t always as easy. For our Kallo team, it’s all about teamwork fueled by repetition. And that strategy is yielding big results.

On Thursday, March 17, the Kallo team hit 1000 days without a major safety incident or lost time injury. And with 130 employees and 70 contractors working on site at any given time, the focus on safety has a large net to cast. 

“Safety is all about behavior, and repetition is how you change behavior,” Manu Gyselinck, Kallo Site Manager, explained. “So here at Kallo, the conversation never stops. We’re constantly reiterating the importance of reporting incidents, no matter how small. These ongoing discussions are designed to make people feel more comfortable speaking up. We want our team to understand that when you make something visible to everyone, it can become an opportunity to learn and improve.”

And while it’s important that these efforts start from the top, teamwork is the only way they can actually be executed.

“When you’re talking about safety, you’re never alone,” Manu added. “We focus on tiered accountability. As a site manager, I have to push and pull these efforts forward through my own actions. But I always expect everyone on site to keep safety top of mind and motivate one another to share this mindset. Our teams know the impact these efforts have on themselves, their colleagues, and their families, so in this way, they become stakeholders in the process.”

A lot of this success is due to the implementation of the “STOP Principle” that encourages putting safety first before production.

“If something is not going in the right direction, we have to stop and evaluate,” Manu shared. “Everyone has the right to raise their hand, and stop the process to help keep things on track. In the end, it’s about taking care of the customer, our colleagues, and the livelihood of the plant. And with a stronger plant, lower costs will follow.”

In addition to safety flyers and slogans you’ll notice when you walk through offices and the plant, the team has added a couple of new steps to the process as well. Weekly safety meetings between operations, safety, and maintenance were implemented to discuss expectations and review what needs to be done to enhance the safety performance. Regular corporate/external safety audits are also part of the next steps to offer benchmarking in regard to where they are today and areas to improve.

“With all the challenges on our plates each day, it’s easy to slip into a reactive mindset,” Adam Pingel, VP Operations, explained. “But that only makes it tougher to get in front of issues. Constantly reevaluating what we’re doing and how we can do it better can help us resolve issues more effectively and efficiently – and hopefully prevent them from ever happening in the first place.”

A week after the team reached the milestone, the site hosted a food truck serving a delicious lunch of hamburgers and french fries to everyone in the main office. It served as a small way to show appreciation for the great effort from everyone on the team and also a nice reminder that safety isn’t just about hard work, but it’s also fun when achieved together.

“When we win in safety, there are great opportunities to celebrate,” Adam added. “And there are opportunities to do that every single day. Our milestone celebrations are great, but our real wins happen every day thanks to every single person on this team.”