RIASSUNTO
Abstract
Saipem’s life saving rules (LSR) have been well established in Saipem’s processes and procedures for many years. However, the need for an effective campaign to transmit and embed them through the organization was recognized. An internal development team began to regenerate and precisely define the topics the LSRs should specifically target, focusing on how to critically define the way they could be released in an impactful way. This also extended into increasing competence.
There are the two key campaign aims: the effective release of each LSR (one at a time over a 6-month period) and the building of the skills and knowledge needed to apply them.
The challenge resided in communicating the rules across a multi-language workforce with impact, whilst creating engagement. The ‘core rules’ were transmitted through highly impactful and interactive film clips, demonstrating the rule violation leading to an accident, pausing for group led discussion and reflection, before again proceeding to demonstrating the correct approach. The films were dubbed into 11 different languages, with the remaining LSRs presented through an innovative ‘language-free’ way. This approach facilitated understanding across languages in a very visual and simple way, without the need for subtitling or dubbing.
There are 15 individual rules, and the communication campaign format releases one rule per month, using various tools to engage all levels of the organization, from management to the workforce, and enabling each rule released to be supported by local training programs and specifically targeted campaigns.
This closely focused approach toward each rule allowed for the embedment and growth of competence before the next rule release.
A comprehensive online toolkit holds the campaign materials, including guidelines for the local assessment and implementation of the LSRs, toolbox talk guides, presentations and film media, recording and reporting mechanisms.
This paper describes the methodology behind an innovative and slow release campaign, including how the rules were developed and tailored to the organization’s context, senior management commitment, the strategy to increase the technical competence and knowledge, and the campaign’s success in impacting Saipem’s safety performance.
Since the launch of the LSR campaign in October 2015, more than 4,000 events have been arranged, covering more than 50,000 people worldwide, in order to ensure exposure to each LSR by all employees. People were engaged from 117 different Projects and Sites around the Saipem world and directly benefitted from this campaign. The safety performance of Saipem has recorded a step change improvement perfectly aligned with the LSR implementation period.
The response from the organization has been so overwhelmingly positive that the story of this successful communication strategy is worth sharing.