It’s a common self-delusion that every generation believes itself to be the most enlightened, the most innovative, the most dedicated to improving conditions for all people and all life on the planet. Businesses in particular like to trumpet their many accomplishments and proudly point to themselves as the vanguard to societal evolution. But in many cases, in the race to pat themselves on the back, they often fail to put in the time and effort to ensure that their workplaces are actually, you know, safe.
This month we're honoring and profiling organizations that emphasize safety excellence, and they do that by creating and sustaining a workplace culture where safety is embedded in their corporate DNA. These are the winners of EHS Today’s America’s Safest Companies 2024 award, and what they’re able to achieve is truly commendable. But there are some other companies who are, shall we say, not quite up to that level of safety achievement. And they tend to steal the spotlight from the award-winning companies due to the extravagant ways in which they demonstrate how they don’t quite “get” safety. Here are a few examples, drawn from recent news stories:
ITEM: Boeing admitted that it misled FAA air safety regulators about two 737 MAX crashes that took the lives of 346 people. Quoting The Wall Street Journal, “[This is] a stunning concession that would brand the world’s biggest aerospace company a felon.” Again quoting the WSJ, “As part of a plea to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., prosecutors have asked the company to pay a second $244 million criminal fine and spend $455 million over the next three years to improve its compliance and safety programs.” As it turns out, Boeing spent a lot of effort on retaliating against employees who complained about safety issues—effort that would’ve been much better spent on ensuring its planes were safe.
ITEM: Discount retailer Dollar General entered into a corporate-wide settlement with OSHA in which the retailer agreed it would significantly improve workplace safety at its stores. Included in the agreement is a $12 million fine, as well as marching orders from OSHA that the retailer adopts a maintains a safety and health management system; hires additional safety managers; improves stocking efficiency to prevent blocked exits and unsafe material storage; develop a safety and health committee; and provide EHS training to leaders and employees. If you’re wondering, “Surely a $38 billion retailer operating nearly 20,000 stores had been doing those sorts of basic safety things already,” I’m afraid I can’t give you a good answer.
ITEM: The EPA announced a $241 million settlement with Marathon Oil Company, which includes a $64.5 million civil penalty, said to be the largest ever Clean Air act stationary source penalty. The settlement involves violations at Marathon’s oil and gas production operations in North Dakota. According to the EPA, thousands of tons of pollution, including carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds, as well as greenhouse gases were released at nearly 90 Marathon facilities, contributing to respiratory illnesses and climate change. Cleaning up its act will require Marathon, among other things, to reduce the equivalent of 2.25 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next five years, and invest roughly $177 million in extensive compliance measures.
I’ve singled out these three companies not just because they’re household names, not just because they’re multi-billion dollar earners, and not just because the government decided enough-was-enough and had to step in. The simple fact is: They’ve should’ve known better, and they’ve should’ve been better. These companies are making it pretty easy for the government to justify hiring more regulators. And they’re making it harder for the safety professionals in their employ when the corporate culture is focused on everything but safety.
When we launched the America’s Safest Companies competition back in the early days of this century, it was during an era when safety leaders (such as Rick Fulwiler, long-time health & safety director at Procter & Gamble and a member of our Editorial Advisory Board) were telling the business community that the most successful companies in the world focused on three things—people, public trust and profits—and all three had to be in synch, or else there would be problems at all levels of the company. If your employees don’t trust you to protect them on the job, and if your customers and communities don’t trust you either, then good luck staying profitable if your workers quit and your customers move on. And that reality is as true today as it was at the turn of the century.
As we honor the 8 companies chosen as the Class of 2024 America’s Safest Companies, we hope that by profiling their safety cultures and emphasizing how successful they are as businesses, the idea will filter through to all business leaders that, “Hey, maybe there’s something to this safety stuff after all.”
