Pulse

Safety and quality go together like peanut butter and jelly. But while that sweet and savory combo brings together two opposing flavors that enhance one another, safety and quality are actually very similar — and without the one, you simply can’t have the other. This is exactly why both of these teams within Loureiro have always collaborated to ensure continuous, mutually-beneficial improvement.

But now, our Safety and Quality teams are taking the “One Loureiro” mindset to the next level with a level of transparency and communication like never before.

We recently sat down with Karen Harris, Corporate Quality Manager, and Ryan Polizzo, Senior Vice President who is leading safety efforts, to learn more about how they’re working together to amplify everything we do to ensure industry-leading safety and quality.

How do Loureiro’s safety and quality efforts complement each other? And how have the two of you been collaborating in these areas?

KAREN: Their approaches are very much the same; you analyze the data to find a root cause and determine what an effective corrective action will be. We initially started the QUEST (Quality Environmental Safety Tool) program to encourage people across the company to be more engaged in our safety process and how it related to meeting our quality standards. Safety is something we always want to put before anything else, but there’s a lot to be learned from both of these areas when presented and analyzed together.

RYAN: In many safety and quality-related cases, the root cause may not be obvious. So the team sets their focus on using the existing data in QUEST to bring a more meaningful understanding to its interpretation. We’re using the information we have to see where risk is, what processes have the most risk, and what we can do to address it. Since we’ve been able to show everyone across departments this information and how the data supports the why behind the solutions more clearly, the things we may already know from an anecdotal perspective are now much more data-driven and actionable.
 

What are some of the most recent wins as a result of the collaboration?

RYAN: We’ve reformed an EHS council that meets quarterly to discuss the data being shared by team members and dive into potential solutions on a more granular level. As an ESOP, we really focus on listening to the feedback from our folks in the field, on sites, and in our labs. With our employees working on construction sites, handling hazardous materials, and conducting demolitions, these are the people we want bringing best practices, opportunities for improvement, or near-miss incidents to our attention. This allows us to identify where our risk is and take action accordingly through real-time data.. That’s the real value in QUEST.

We are also completing an overhaul in how we conduct our training and what our training curriculum entails. We’re using feedback from our internal customers to drive a more strategic training tool with a more specific curriculum tailored to our individual businesses, allowing us to be more purposeful in specific situations and activities that may have presented issues or misalignment in the past. These efforts will increase production as well as provide a more robust learning experience.

How are you sharing these learnings and calls-to-action with employees?

KAREN: There’s been much more communication around both safety and quality at every level of the company, which is really the key to success. We’ve been putting together a weekly Tool Box topic to help facilitate kick off meetings and discussions in regards to certain areas of safety and quality. We are always looking for new topics that people can use in conversation during these meetings and inviting them to share their own experiences. By providing these types of communication tools that team members can take with them into the field, we can facilitate a much greater level of awareness and reduce the risk of people repeating the same mistakes.

RYAN: When it comes to safety specifically, we really want to reinforce the message: if you don’t know, stop, and ask your supervisor. And if they don’t know, they’ll report it up the chain accordingly. We want everyone to constantly be talking, so this communication flows through the reporting chain. If an activity feels unsafe, or you’re not sure how to proceed, stop and raise your hand. We’re often in positions with a lot of uncertainty, and we need everyone in alignment to figure out the best way to move forward together.
 

What’s next in the safety and quality efforts?

RYAN: One of our biggest goals with QUEST is to let our internal customers know that they are being heard. We rely on their eyes and ears to help guide us in the right direction. Keep submitting your observations in QUEST, and keep sharing your learnings. In the future, we are considering ways in which we can recognize employees with high engagement in the platform.

As we continue to elevate this collaboration between quality and safety, we want everyone to feel inspired to play their part to move us all forward.

If you have any questions about how to report a QUEST event or have an idea for a toolbox topic, please contact Karen Harris ([email protected]).