Turning The Metals Industry Into A Zero Harm Environment

Reflecting MSCI’s commitment to help its member companies build a “safety always” culture, we are embarking on a journey to transform the industrial metals sector into a zero harm environment. You and your company can join this movement by watching our webinar with Steve Yates and by registering for our Oct. 9-10 Safety Summit in Schaumburg, Ill. Stay tuned for more information about the summit.

In the meantime, we sat down with Yates, president and founder of UpVantage Strategies and a long-time MSCI partner, to discuss what employees expect when it comes to safety and why building a “safety always” culture is good for business.

MSCI: At MSCI, we talk about a “safety always” culture, but our readers may be more familiar with the term “safety first” culture. What is the difference, and why is the nuance important?

YATES: Yes, for many reasons, many organizations have adopted a “safety first” mantra. The problem with that phrase is it denotes a priority. If safety is first, what are you putting second? Productivity? Quality?

North American workers and businesses produce. That’s what we do. Saying “safety first” puts safety in competition with other meaningful priorities. It works under normal conditions, but as soon as there’s a rush order, for example, the message gets muddled. Does getting the job done take a back seat to safety? It’s hard for employees to know and that’s when we see them start putting their own safety, or the safety of colleagues, at risk. Alternatively, “safety always” places safety  as a core value.  It doesn’t change with priorities. It signals there is never something worth risking the well-being of an individual.

MSCI: So, “safety always” signals to employees that safety is ingrained — part of a culture. Are you seeing more applicants today demanding this type of culture from employers? 

YATES: Yes, today’s workforce is much more aware of a working environment’s effect on their health. They want an employer to care about their well-being. Here is what happens when employers don’t meet those basic standards: they go through the extensive and costly process of hiring a person. But when a new hire arrives on the shop floor and sees hot, dirty, or unsafe conditions their first morning, they don’t return after lunch. Companies lose workers before they even start, driving up turnover costs and leaving job gaps unfilled.

Wherever you stand on environmental or governance issues — which young workers also care about — when it comes to corporate social responsibility, safety is paramount to recruiting and retaining top talent. If you want to be an employer of choice and draw younger people into this industry, a “safety always” culture is an absolute necessity.

MSCI: Thank you, and that benefit leads right into our next question. Investing in safety programs is, well, an investment. Tell me what the ROI is.

YATES: According to the National Safety Council, in 2021 the average cost of injury was $42,000. That’s the most recent data. That cost harms workers, families, and a company’s bottom line. The ROI on a “safety always” culture is enormous — for every dollar spent, it’s a $2 to $5 return. Even that number doesn’t fully quantify the return, however. Companies that make safety a value are consistently evaluating processes, and that work can illuminate problems that are eroding productivity. There’s also a tie between quality and safety. A better, safer workplace often leads to better products.

Finally, by improving safety, companies improve the performance of their property and casualty insurance programs, from workers’ compensation to vehicle insurance. Premiums go down, companies become more attractive in the insurance market, and, like the largest service centers, they can almost become self-insured, turning safety into a profit center.

MSCI: Conversely, what are the risks of not investing in safety?

YATES: Sure. There are definitely reputational risks. Injuries and fatalities reverberate through the community and now, because of the internet, news of them is digitally memorialized for every potential customer, employee, or investor to see. People need to be able to trust the companies they work with. Headlines about unsafe working environments destroy that trust.

But a far bigger risk, I believe, is peace of mind. I’ve stood with CEOs through fatality investigations — literally been with them at funerals, trying to get through that hour. I don’t want to have any more of those moments, and I know those are not experiences any MSCI member wants. Knowing other CEOs have been through those moments — well, I hope that compels people to action.

MSCI: MSCI has committed to transforming the metals industry into a zero harm environment. What does that mean, and what support does MSCI provide to make this goal a reality?

YATES: Like “safety first,” you’ll hear people refer to the goal to have “zero injuries.” Obviously that’s the result we want, but focusing on numbers is risky. Remember, our workforce produces.  It will get whatever result management calls for. How it gets the result may be undesired, however. It can cause people to leave incidents unreported, for example. We have to move beyond mere compliance to a commitment to safety mindset — that company will do everything to drive out workplace exposures. A commitment starts with a CEO who gets curious about what the best of the best are doing to eliminate injuries. I can tell you, the best aren’t focusing on numbers, they’re focusing on culture through educating executives down through their front-line supervisors and workers.

MSCI offers a ton of support to companies to improve culture. The first is the Safety Helpline, available Monday through Friday during business hours and staffed by my team. No question is too small or big. Responses come within a day. The second benefit is a series of workshops for frontline supervisors and managers designed specifically for the metals industry. These courses begin with an alternative to OSHA’s four full-day course, which is not at all industry specific and take supervisors off the shop floor for nearly a week. We follow this with a series of five soft-skill experiential learning workshops to educate the supervisor to draw the best out of today’s workforce, and eliminate exposures to injury. All of MSCI’s workshops are online and taught in half-day increments so supervisors can remain connected to their teams.

MSCI: What are the steps companies must take to create the kind of culture that leads to a zero harm environment?

YATES: There are three: commit, assess, educate. The first step is to summon the courage to make a change. Moving from mere compliance to a committed safety culture is not easy. It will take fortitude, and it cannot be a “safety of the month club” type of thing. Employees will sniff that out in an instant. The second step, and this one is tied to courage, is to truthfully assess your current operations. You have to be honest about where you are and where you want to go, in attainable steps. Next, it’s time to educate your managers and supervisors so they can succeed. MSCI’s own courses can be useful during this educational process, but really MSCI and our team can be a partner at each step of this journey.