Paris, France - For the second year, Calderys has organized its safe.day. In all sites across the globe, employees and contractors were asked to stop operations and tasks, and dedicate some time to reinforcing the company’s health and safety culture with diverse activities.

The theme of this year’s event was “Shared Vigilance” focusing on how everyone can contribute to lowering risks and maintaining a safe workplace by staying alert. Everywhere, activities and workshops were organized involving employees, contractors and sometimes customers.

Michel Cornelissen, Calderys President and CEO says: “At Calderys, our commitment to health and safety is integral to our strategy and embedded in everything we do. Our corporate value “We are accountable” says it all. We are accountable for our actions, decisions and their consequences, this includes our own health and safety and that of everyone involved in our activities. This is an absolute commitment and a key priority every day. The safe.day has been launched with the aim of taking the time to reflect on our approach to health and safety in order to constantly improve it and reinforce our general health and safety culture. It is a key event in the life of our company and I was very proud to witness the engagement and enthusiasm of the teams on September 20th.”

In addition to the workshop on “Shared Vigilance”, sites were requested to hold an activity around the “line of fires” and how to mitigate the risks of being in harm's way. They had then the option to introduce a third workshop tailored to their local needs. A global internal webinar was also organized during the day for all colleagues who were not able to be on site for the occasion. 

David Secret, Global Vice President, Operations Excellence, emphasizes: “We tailored our safe.day to ensure absolutely everyone was able to dedicate some time to health and safety on that day. But it’s important to note that health and safety is a never-ending journey; we have robust health and safety processes and policies in place and we strive for continuous improvement in all areas. Everyone is empowered to stop their job if safety conditions do not meet our standards. We want to create working environments where our people feel healthy and safe and where everyone who works for us or visits our sites goes home safe and healthy.”

Calderys’ safe. program

Calderys safe.day is named after the group’s safety program: safe. launched In 2023 during the first edition of the safe.day which gathered the whole newly-combined company. The safe. program aims to maintain a strong health and safety culture across the business. It is structured around four pillars: 

Safety First: Safety is part of the company’s DNA. Employees are encouraged to take the time to do things properly and halt operations if safety conditions do not meet the group’s policies and protocols. 

Advancing Communication: Effective and transparent communication is encouraged between co-workers about the company standards and protocols and about potential dangers. It is vital for continuous improvement.

Fostering Collaboration: Health and safety are promoted as a collective effort and shared commitment. Employees are urged to intervene in high-risk situations for the benefit of themselves and their teammates

Encouraging Ownership: Everyone is accountable for workplace health and safety, whatever their role. Employees are encouraged to actively engage and visibly commit to create an incident and injury-free environment.

More can be found about Calderys safe. program in this video.