CEMEX USA is beginning the new year, renewing its commitment to Zero4Life by holding Safety Week 2021, its annual company-wide initiative designed to get employees laser-focused on the company’s first core value, Health & Safety.
This year, employees were empowered to show-off their Safety Skills utilizing an Action Based Safety approach developed to improve hazard identification, hazard control, risk identification and assessment.
Safety Week 2021 began at all CEMEX USA plants and facilities on Monday, Jan. 4, with safety activities and messages delivered by local leadership to all employees to refocus them on safety as we begin the new year. Employees spent additional time in the socially-distanced or virtual meetings to address the COVID-19 pandemic, reviewing CEMEX’s Behaviors that Save Lives, protocols focused on identifying and reporting symptoms, safeguarding the health of employees and others, personal hygiene and physical distancing to help stop the spread of the virus.
Throughout the week, employees also participated in exercises that emphasized hazard identifications, impacts and controls to improve risk identification and assessments.
“At CEMEX, we are constantly looking for opportunities to improve the health and safety of all our employees, and these events give us great forums to hold open dialogues to learn from each other, encourage discussion of new safety ideas and recommit to safety every day,” said CEMEX USA President Jaime Muguiro. “Safety is a team effort, and it requires all of us to look out for one another. We all need to spend extra time to identify and assess hazards, so we can return home to our families each day.”
During Safety Week, employees at each CEMEX USA operation were tasked with choosing a work activity, then identifying the top three hazards related to it. During the exercise, they analyzed the hazard impacts, performed risk assessments and developed hazard controls to eliminate or minimize potential risks. Employees were also encouraged to utilize the tools already offered in CEMEX’s Health & Safety Management System – a program based on 15 different elements that include safety enhancement items such as leadership, audits and inspections, safe operative practices and risk analysis.
“Our employees are empowered to take action when it comes to safety, and at CEMEX, we are working to create a culture where they can quickly access important safety practices and procedures to become safety leaders” said Alan MacVicar, CEMEX USA’s vice president of health & safety. “Our employees are encouraged to closely follow these well-established tools and guidelines, in order to create an injury free workplace for themselves and each other.”
Since 2016, CEMEX USA has hosted Safety Week annually during the first week of January to promote a renewed commitment to safety for each new year.